The Garden Magazine, December, 1919 



167 



ONE of Mr. Ladd's hobbies was Holland bulbs, which he 

 imported directly. He had thousands of Tulip, Nar- 

 cissus, Crocus, Scilla and other spring-flowering bulbs, and 

 many of these bravely survive to gladden the garden at every 

 spring's resurrection summons. Under the white Spirea in the 

 north shrubbery there are hundreds of- the deep blue Scilla 

 which flower with it and make an exquisite picture. 

 Mr. Ladd also loved the beautiful Candidum Lilies and 

 grew them in combination with pale blue Larkspur long 

 before our later day gardeners advocated this lovely color 

 scheme. These Lilies also survive and each June make our 

 hearts glad with their beauty in the central plot, and under 

 the drawing-room windows — and though his original Lark- 

 spurs have mostly run out they have been replaced. It is 

 our torment though that we have never been able to find the 

 lovely pale flower of his daughter's recollection, that blossomed 

 in spraying "clouds of delicate blue!" This was what he 

 used to grow — a very different thing from the long straight 

 trusses of the modern Delphinium, evidently. 



THE distinctive feature of this garden — and one of its 

 greatest charms — is its different levels or terraces. 

 It not only rises from the house in a series of four different 

 levels to its western boundary on High Street, 300 feet back, 

 but it is terraced along the sides also, and the flower beds 

 are built up above the level of the paths in a delightful diver- 

 sity and variety impossible to indicate or describe. The 

 long central path forms the main axis of the garden, and 

 originally led directly from a door in the rear of the drawing 

 room (the western wall of the house) to the garden's limit 

 where a gate gave on to High Street; but in later years this 

 entrance was made into a window and a garden door opened 

 through from the hall at the foot of the great staircase. An 

 old brick path leads west beside the house from this door to 

 the central flower plot, branching south from there to meet 

 the main path, while the rambling earth path that encircles 

 the lawn at the north where the bee-hives are, comes to an 

 end before it. All of this, as well as the strip of land directly 

 west of the house, and the bird sanctuary, is on the same 

 level with the house. 



Ascending to the first terrace by three old brick steps, we 

 come to the main flower garden on the second level, where 

 the large central plot, 26 x 40 feet in size, is further raised 

 thirty inches above the level of its surrounding paths, the 

 bank thus formed being edged with turf. The higher level 

 of this bed is reached by two brick steps in front and turf 

 steps at either side which meet the narrow turf path 

 running through the centre. Old-fashioned red Roses still 

 bloom all along the edge of this first terrace, augmented now 

 by the modern Gruss an Teplitz (so like the old red Bur- 

 gundy Rose of our grandmother's day, but far more decora- 

 tive and fragrant). At the northeast corner of this terrace 

 is a magnificent great Viburnum Opulus, which the birds 

 appreciate in autumn, with its hundreds of drooping clusters 

 of scarlet berries that succeed its white bloom. 



The big central plot itself is a mass of pink, white, and 

 purple bloom from June to October. Bleeding-heart, Colum- 

 bine, and pale lavender Phlox divaricata begin the pageant, 

 followed by Peonies, Pyrethrum, fragrant old-fashioned 

 white Dittany, stately pink Poppies (modern, I know, but 

 so lovely they are allowed!), white and violet Campanula 



THE LONG CENTRAL PATH UP TO THE HIGH STREET 

 Where the old gate has been closed up and since masked by plant- 

 ing. The modern arches are being replaced by a copy of an old 

 arbor. The herb garden is at the left through the grape trellis, the 

 kitchen garden beyond it, the main flower garden at the right — but 

 flowers are everywhere! 



persicifolia, tall pink and white Foxgloves in the shade of the 

 pear trees, and then early in July the pure white candidum 

 Lilies, and heavenly blue Larkspur. And as the summer 

 wears on masses of Phlox in shades of lavender, pale pink and 

 white keep company with tall blue and white Monkshood that 

 takes the place of the Foxgloves under the trees, speciosum 

 Lilies bloom among the Peonies, and Gladiolus and the useful 

 though prosaic China Asters in white, pink, purple, and 

 lavender fill up the gaps left by the passing of Columbines 

 and Campanulas. There is not a time during the whole 

 summer indeed when this central plot is not beautiful, the 

 centre and heart of the garden, seeming to draw to itself and 

 concentrate the beauty and fragrance of the whole. 



NEXT the latticed porch, raised about a foot above 

 the path and turf edged is a bed where are Holly- 

 hocks, tall Campanula lactiflora, the sweet-scented Valerian 

 —greatly loved by cats! — Feverfew, Sweet-williams, Phloxes 

 and at either end of the bed a great bush of the old white 

 rose, Mme. Plantier, and the lovely pink-and-white Seven 

 Sisters. 



Five brick steps bring us to the second level which extends 

 to the foot of the grass steps. The whole length of this path 



