VARIOUS FLOWER GARDENS. 35 



MOUNT USHER, A WICKLOW GARDEN. A quaint creeper-laden 

 mill-house at Ashford, with an acre or two of ground, partly 

 wooded, through which the silvery Vartry River flows, gentle as it 

 falls over its little rocky weirs in summer, but swollen and turbid 

 after wintry storms. The place is really an island at the bottom 

 of a valley ; the hilly country around is beautifully diversified, and 

 is graced by the finest of native timber trees. The garden is quite 

 unlike any other garden I have seen, and to see it in the time of 

 Lilies, Roses, Paeonies, Poppies, and Delphiniums is to see much 

 lovely colour amongst the rich greenery of the rising woodlands. In 

 autumn the colour is less brilliant, but equally satisfying as the eye 

 wanders from the Torch Lilies and Gladioli to the blue Agapanthus, 

 and thence to the Pine and Fir-clad hills. 



An old Ivy-covered wall makes a good background for the 

 brilliant Tropaeolum speciosum, which everywhere runs wild about 

 the place, throwing its soft green wreaths over twig and branch, their 

 tips scarlet with blossoms, or heavily laden with turquoise-blue berries. 

 Here also the soft rosy Hydrangeas bloom, and may be seen 

 the big scarlet hips on the great Apple Rose of Parkinson (Rosa 

 pomifera), with its large glaucous leaves scented like those of the 

 Sweet Brier. Mount Usher is a charming example of the gardens 

 that might be made in river valleys, especially those among the 

 mountains and hills. In such places there is often delightful shelter 

 from violent winds, while the picturesque effect of the mountains and 

 hills around offers a charming prospect from the gardens. There is a 

 distinct charm about many Irish gardens, and the country also is 

 excellent, at least in the shore districts, for the growth of many 

 plants that soon perish out of doors in most parts of England. 



GREENLANDS is an example of a garden in which the river front 

 of the house is a simple sloping lawn. Originally laid out by Mr. 

 Marnock for Mr. Majoribanks, it has long been a garden showing 

 good work. There are no terrace gardens, and one passes easily from 

 the house to a pleasant lawn and the well-planted grounds around, 

 studded with many fine trees, among which are beautiful groups of 

 Cedars. A flower garden in front of the house is here avoided ; but 

 at a little distance there are various flower gardens within easy 

 reach, and this plan keeps the lawn immediately in front of the house 

 unbroken, instead of, what it too often is, patched with brown earth or, 

 not always happy, masses of flowers. It would not be the best plan 

 to follow in every case ; the more variety the greater the charm, 

 and there are ways of delightful flower-gardening in which no bare 

 earth can be seen, while there are many cases where the sunny and 

 secluded sides of the house afford the best of sites for the flower 



garden. 



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