October 12, 1912. 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



775 



THE FRIARY, OLD WINDSOR. 



Among the many beautiful gardens along 

 the banks of the Thames, there may perhaps 

 be some better known than those of Tlie 

 Friary, at Old Windsor, but it is doubtful, 

 for a garden of its size, whether there is 

 one where gardening is better or more in- 

 telligently cai-ried out than here. Unlike 

 some of its uear neighl)Ours, the house and 

 grounds do not stand on an eminence over- 

 looking the river, but are very pleasantly 

 situat^ just out of reach of the floods, 

 which, during the winter and spring 

 month's, often play havoc with the low- 

 Iving houses and gardens on the banks of 



our chief river. 

 Though between the towing paths, on 



tbo one side, and the main road on the 

 other, the mansion is well screened from 

 both by the well-timbered grounds. The 

 house was built about the middle of the 



my pleasure to see so much bloom on a 

 set of beds planted at the end of May, and 

 allowed to stand the whole summer. 



the beds are 



At many ^' show 

 often refilled once 



places 



or twice during the 

 season, as the various occupants lose their 

 freshness, but here no such methods are 

 practised, and the excellent display pro- 

 duced reflected great credit on the gar- 

 dener, Mr. G. West, Who has had charge 

 of the gardens for the past seven years. 



The fairly light and porous soil, with 

 water at no great distance below the sur- 

 face, is certainly favourable to the growth 

 of the soft-wooded bedding plants, and I 

 have never seen ivy-leaf pelargoniums 

 flowering in siich profusion as here, though 

 one might naturally tliink the very wet 

 time experienced for five or six weeks pre- 

 vious to my visit would have tended to 

 minimise the amount of flower on such 

 quick-growing plants. 



mentioned were filled with tall Centaiirea 

 maritima, as dot plants, among the little- 

 known zonal pelargonium Verona ; this 

 variety is quite unique, the foliage being 

 of the colour and brillianc^^ of the cut- 

 leaved golden elder, and the flowers a beau- 

 tiful shade of shell-pink. The Avhole was 

 splendidly set off with an edging of the 

 double blue Lobelia Kathleen Mallai-d. The 

 two crescent l>eds immediately around the 

 sundial contained Begonia Phosphoresence, 

 with a groundwork of Leucophyton Brown i. 

 These beds are surrounded on two sides 

 hy the house, and on the other two sides, 

 at a greater distance, by large horee chest- 

 nut trees, and so the flower garden stands 

 out well, especially so as all the rest of 

 the pleasure grounds, some five acres bor- 

 dering the river, is more or less covere<l 

 with fine specimen trees, consisting chiefly 

 of planes, chestnuts, elms, and birch, 

 amouD^ tliA deeiduous trees and of cedars. 



GABDEX FRONT OF THE FRIARY, OLD WINDSOR 



century^ and was occupied by 

 Inncess Elizabeth, who used it chiefly as 

 a fishmg temple. The Friary has been in 

 the occupation of Francis Ricardo, Esq., 

 lOr the past forty-eight years, and he has 

 Rebuilt the house and stables, remodelled 

 the grounds, built a glass department, 

 and added to the size of tlie estate as he 

 JJ^as able to acquire the surrounding land. 

 Ine whole property now forms a very beau- 

 tuul riverside estate, with a quite ffood- 

 '^ize<l home farm. 



As may be assumed from the accompany- 

 ing illustrations, flower gardening is one 

 the chief features of the Friary gar- 

 <lens. both Mr. and Mrs. Ricardo taking 



espcci;!] uiterest in this particular branch, 

 ^"^1 at the time of my visit, earlv in Sep- 

 J^^niber, the set of beds on tlie soiitli tn.nt 

 ^rnie<l a fiue feature, the colour ai-iange- 

 ^^^nt of the whole sot of thirty beds being 

 ^""^■^^^^^'iigiy gnod, and seldom has it been 



The Ijcils cover a space of about 90ft. by 

 70ft. The four corner beds were planted 

 with ivy-leaved pelargonium Souvenir de 

 Charles Turner ni pyramidal form, the 

 surface being carpeted with the same 

 variety, and edged with a good breadth 

 of Alyssum minimum. The middle bed at 

 either end was planted in a similar 

 manner, but with Aladame Crousse pelar- 

 gonium, and e<lgeil with Lobelia Royal 

 I*urple. 



The four large beds surrounding the sun- 

 dial were planted with Paul Crampel pelar- 

 gonium, with an edging of the silver-leaved 

 Veronica Andersoni variegata. The cen- 

 tral raiseil beds in each half of the display 

 contained good standaixl plants of Fuchsia 

 ^frs. ]\rarsball, under which were fine 

 iiiaxst s (if H('ii(>tro])e Madame de Bussey. 

 many of the trusses of bloom measurinj; 

 quite a foot across. The small, round, in- 

 termediate beds between those already 



thujas, retinosporas, cupressus, etc., among 

 the Coniferje, while some very fine standard 

 Portugal laurels are to be seen on the 

 North Terrace. 



On the opposite side of the road are the 

 glasshouses and fruit and vegetable gar- 

 dens. The latter are fairly extensive, and 

 a fine herbaceous border, about 100 yards 

 long, leading to the rose garden, is a very 

 fine feature. The herbaceous plants kept 

 company with good bold clumps of antir- 

 rhinums, asters, nemesias, clarkias, schizan- 

 thuses, alonsoas, etc.. which at the time I 

 saw them were making a fine display, in 

 conjunction with lu^lianthn^e.^^ heleniums, 

 rudbeckias, perennial asters, phloxes, ane- 

 mones, achilleas, gladioli, solidagos, etc., 

 each represented by the l>est varieties. 



The rose gardt^n consists of beds of mixed 

 varieties, an<l it sti iu k me this would prove 

 much more effectiv^^ if ])lanted in beds of 

 separate colours or varieties. The betls 



