Gardens of the Misses Gamier. 209 



Art. IX. Descriptive Notice of the Gardens of the Misses Gamier, 

 at Wickham, near Fareham, in Hampshire ; by the Conductor : 

 ivith a Monthly Calendar of the Work done, and of the principal 

 Flowers produced ; by Mr. James Moore, Gardener to the Misses 

 Garnier. 



In the course of oar tour, in the autumn of 1833, we called 

 at the villa of the Misses Garnier, near Wickham, which has 

 long been celebrated for its flower-garden ; and, much as we 

 had heard of it, from Mr. Page of Southampton, Mr. Young of 

 Epsom, and other nurserymen aii^d gardeners, it very far sur- 

 passed our expectations. 



The grounds are fiat, with no exterior advantages whatever, 

 and therefore the merits of these gardens are entirely dependent 

 on art. The walks and beds are laid out according to the ground 

 plan (fg. 15.); the beds are most judiciously planted; and the 

 order and keeping of the whole are of the very highest and most 

 refined description. In this respect, the garden at Wickham be- 

 longs to the same class as the gardens of the Rev. Thomas Garnier, 

 at Bishopstoke ; of Mrs. Corrie, near Birmingham ; Mrs. Robert 

 Phillips, near Cheadle ; Lady Boughton, near Chester; Mrs. 

 Starkey, at Bowness ; and a few others. The first view of the 

 garden of the Misses Garnier, when the door marked a in the 

 plan (fg. 15.) was opened, which looks into it from the garden 

 forming the entrance court, struck us with astonishment and 

 delight ; the bold masses of brilliant-coloured flowers in the fore- 

 ground, and, afterwards, the succession of masses of flowers, with 

 their intervening glades of turf, extending to a considerable dis- 

 tance, till the colours were almost lost in the boundary plantation, 

 produced a landscape of the most brilliant kind. In walking 

 round, we found the walks brimful of gravel, with the turf edging 

 nowhere deeper than half an inch. The beds, in some places, were 

 planted in masses of one or two species or varieties ; in others, 

 by the different species of one genus ; and, in some, by a miscel- 

 laneous assemblage. The plants were in all cases, except those of 

 creepers and the kinds planted in masses, placed at such dis- 

 tances from each other, as not to touch when in full growth and 

 bloom, in consequence of which every individual plant was 

 covered with flowers from the base to the summit; but the 

 creepers were sufficiently close together to cover the whole of 

 the beds with their foliage. Pelargoniums, China asters, stocks, 

 and other plants intended to display masses of flower of one 

 colour, were also planted so as to cover the entire bed. 



The woody plants consist of roses, climbers, and twiners, with 

 rhododendrons, azaleas, and other American and peat-earth 

 shrubs, and of the larger exotic shrubs and flowering trees. 

 The roses are displayed in a rosary, in masses on the lawn, or 

 singly as standards ; the climbers cover trellised arches, or sup- 



Vol. X. — No. 50. p 



