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THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[March 23, 1912, 



baskets are to be preferred to pots, because they 

 allow of better aeration of the soil. The beds in 

 the grass beside the water are planted with 

 dwarfs, backed by bush Roses, of which the ex- 

 quisite and sweetly sceir d Zephyrine Drouhin i 



Amongst the numerous dwarfs. 



fought in a field which still bears witness in its 

 name— Cae Aleirch. In the centre of the courtyard 

 is an immense lead cistern bearing the date 1620. 

 It was found in a field in the district, but its 

 previous history is obscure. On the northern 



probably at least 200 years old, and some com- 

 parative striplings planted some 36 years ago, will 

 be ready to take their place when at last thev 

 shall have run their course. A fine fruit wall 

 bounds the Mulberry grove on the north and a 



and 



goniums were 



perhaps the best. 



General M< Arthur, Gustav Grunervald, 

 Ma lapucine should be noted. Many of the 

 paths between these beds artf arched over and 

 covered with climbing varieties. A close ly- 

 planted double row of Limes encloses the garden 

 at one end, and the question of what to grow 

 underneath them has found its solution in > dum 

 spurium. This, of course, remains green, and 

 does not acquire the Ted on the leaves nor does 

 it flower well; but to find anything that will 

 remain perpetually green under these trees, in 

 spite of the Lime sugar-droppings and the dense 

 shade, is a triumph, and might not have been 

 lit upon, amongst the sun-loving Stonecrops 

 cept by happy chance. 



Beyond is a large sloping bank, which, at the 

 time of my visit, was allotted to Blue Ageratums, 

 amongst which a few groups of Scarlet P< lar- 



scattered in eff< ive contrast 

 Thence we enter a garden of flagstones with 

 crevice- and carpet plants, of which the accom- 

 panying illustration (fig, 78) gives an excellent 

 idea. This is quite a feature of the place. This 

 garden and an adjoining one are surrounded by a 

 Thuya hedge, one side of which is 50 years old 

 the other sides five ! But by reason of the gar- 

 dener's art no difference is apparent to the casual 

 observer. Many interesting Alpine plants are 

 exuberantly happy in these somewhat novel sur- 

 roundings. Thymes and Mentha* fill the air 



with fragrance as we walk over them. A charm- 

 ing spot for leisure hours, and brimful of interest 

 to the plant lover, it is an admirable example 

 of how rock plants may be grown successfully 

 where more natural conditions are unfeasible or 



not wanted. 



The main approach to the castle, flanked by 



old Cedar trees, and passing through a gateway 

 in the old Norman wall, leads into a courtyard 

 on the eastern side of the castle. This old wall 

 is also full of flowers, and the promenade on ita 

 top behind the battlements is doubtless appreci- 

 ated more now than by the sentries of the 17th 

 century. Charles I. visited the castle in 1645, 

 and the Royalist and Parliamentary forces came 

 into collision in 1648, when a bloody battle was 



Fig. 77. — st. fagan's castle: a terrace path. 



aspect is situated the Dutch garden shown in the 

 photograph (fig. 76). Low, conical pillars of 

 Golden Yew relieve the darker green of the Box 



walls, and the beds are a mass of violet with 

 Viola cornuta purpurea. One walks across a 

 sunk bowling green and up a flight of stone steps 

 which lead through iron gates to the Mulberry 

 grove, which consists of two old veterans with 

 great prostrate arms and several less ancient 

 though by no means yenng trees. The two are 



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long hedge of that incomparable hedge Rose, 

 Zephyrine Drouhin, so conspicuous in the Rose 

 garden, has been planted recently, and flanked 



this year with Mignonette. 



We must not leave the old walled-in gardens 

 without making: mention of some of the more or 

 less tender shrubs which are planted in vanoo 

 places. Tecoma radicans (Bignonia) was in flower, 

 climbing, by aid of its aerial rootlets, 6 or 8 feet. 

 Lonicera sempervirens minor, the most handsome- 

 of all cultivated Honeysuckles, was flowering pro- 

 fusely ; this was under glass, however— in an old 

 greenhouse. Azara microphylla must have attained 

 its full height, for I judged it to be 15 feet, but 

 Nicholson gives ita height as 12 feet. Fabiana im- 

 bricata is a beautiful Heath-like shrub for a south 

 wall, with waxy, white, tubular flowers ; Piptan- 

 thus nepalensis flowers well, and is practical} 



Olearia macrodonta flowers profuse! 



Puerana 



(Dutch- 



Fig. 76. — st. fagan's castle : the dutch gar 



4^ • 



evergreen ; 



above its grey-green Holly -like leaves. 

 Thunbergiana and Aristolochia Sipho 

 man's Pipe) are large-leaved climbers of some 

 merit. Polygonum Baldschuanicum forms a * eatur * 

 in more than one place, notably in the middle 

 the Dutch garden. It was flowering freely last year 

 in June, and doubtless bloomed again in autumn. 

 A surprise awaits the wanderer through the*e 

 small, enclosed gardens, each with its distinctly 

 character, all more or less flat, and, with the ex- 

 ception of the Mulberry grove, somewhat fornu . 

 Ascending to the battlements of the wester 

 wall, he fees the land fall abruptly to the ^si- 

 ward, the castle being, in fact, built on tn 

 edge of a steep valley, which runs up from ll _ 

 neighbouring Ely River. Its steep side has ^ 

 formed into a series of terraces, this being a 1 « - 

 the only method possible of treating it, ^ ~ f 

 indeed an immense rockery— a veritable piec 

 mountain side — had been constructed. IB 

 recent extensions at the head of the ravine 

 idea was discussed, but was finally « lscart J£ 

 and the terraces have been continued for a ^ 

 tance almost as great as the original length- ^ 

 top and highest wall has some large Fig *** 

 it, and at its northern end is a square Iook ^ 

 tower; stone steps lead from terrace to te 



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