SQUARES 219 



aucubas, euonymous, and straggling privet form the 

 staple product of the encircling borders, with a pleasant 

 admixture of lilac and laburnum, and generally a 

 good supply of iris facing the gravel pathway. A few 

 annuals and bedding-out plants brighten the borders 

 in summer, and some can boast of one or two ferns. 

 Occasionally the luxury of a summer-house is indulged 

 in, and here and there a weeping ash has been ventured 

 upon by way of shelter ; a secluded walk or seat is 

 practically unknown. The older gardens have some 

 large trees, and the turf in all of them is good, and 

 when it is with " daisies pied " it forms the chief delight 

 of the children who play there. It may be that the 

 distance of Netting Hill Gate from the smoke of 

 the East End has encouraged more enterprise in 

 gardening ; certainly the result of the planting in 

 Ladbroke Square is satisfactory. Several healthy young 

 oaks are growing up ; and a fountain and small piece 

 of formal gardening round it, on the highest point of 

 the long, sloping lawn, is effective. In the older 

 squares, such as Grosvenor Square, the bushes are high, 

 and the openings so well arranged that the lawns in 

 the centre are perfectly private, and hidden from the 

 streets. In the less ancient ones, such as Eccleston 

 and Warwick, Connaught and Montagu Squares, the 

 long, narrow strip leaves little scope for variation. 



An innovation of the usual square is to be seen 

 in Duke Street, Grosvenor Square. This small 

 square, which was laid out as a garden with sheltered 

 seats, was made when the new red-brick dwellings 

 replaced the smaller and more crowded houses. The 

 middle is now the distributing centre of an electric 

 power-station, but the roof is low and flat, and has been 



