A GARDEN NOTE-BOOK 



Aranjuez. Confessing, however, at once to no 

 first-hand knowledge of private gardens in Spain, 

 and to httle of those open to the public, I may add 

 that always I have watched for some printed word 

 concerning the gardens that one fancies as beyond 

 the walls in every Spanish town and city. With 

 what happy anticipation did I send for the French 

 translation of the Spanish play, "Aux Jardins de 

 Murcie," my horticultural hopes high, as when the 

 first word of Masefield's "Daflfodil Fields" reached 

 my ear; none but a gardener can fully share with 

 me the blankness of disappointment on finding 

 that these writings with lovely names dealt only 

 with tragedy and blood. 



The public gardens of Spain cannot be forgotten 

 by those who know them. I recall the sombre im- 

 pression of the gardens of the Escorial, those gar- 

 dens of "broad terraces with trim box hedges, but 

 on the whole possessing more architecture than 

 vegetation." I remember the deliciously flowered 

 terrace of the Generalife; the bright fountains, the 

 flowers, the myrtles of the gardens of the Alham- 

 bra; the charming Parque Maria Luisa of Seville, 

 but, more than these, the rich loveliness there of 

 the gardens of the Alcazar. Hare's words describe 

 these well: "Behind the Alcazar, approached by a 



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