256 
The Garden Magazine, June, 1920 
— and will continue to spread as long as the owner lives! Into 
the woods, into the orchard, into the meadows they go; where 
the cultivated gardens end, the wild gardens commence and 
flow on through woodland and meadowland, and over the entire 
estate. 
The Rose garden devoted to Tea Roses is on the first terrace, 
The beds were dug to the depth of four feet, and so well pre- 
pared that it has rarely been necessary to disturb them since 
the Roses were planted. This has made it possible to carpet the 
ground with lovely little dwarf and creeping hardy plants, 
until no bare earth is to be seen. 
Clematis in the numerous small-flowered wild varieties, and 
the splendid large-flowered kinds from Japan is Mr. Robinson’s 
favorite climber, and thirty or forty varieties are to be found. 
The small-flowered such as Clematis paniculata are easily 
grown, but the superb, large-flowered C. Jackmani and its 
hybrids, are rare in gardens, although hundreds of thousands are 
grown and sold by the European and American nurserymen. 
Asked the secret of his success with them, Mr. Robinson says, 
it is simply, “to get plants grown on their own roots.” As only 
grafted plants of the large-flowered sorts are offered this is not so 
simple however. They should be propagated by layering 
of course, thereby securing plants on their own roots. 
In the Gravetye garden they are seen at their best, for no 
stiff and ugly trellises are used to display them. Instead they 
are allowed to clamber over a shrub or through the branches of an 
evergreen, which latter furnishes the partial shade they like. 
The dark green leaves of a Holly tree make splendid background 
for the scarlet flowers of C. coccinea, for example. 
A Holly tree also furnishes support for the most brilliant and 
lovely of all climbers, Tropaeolum speciosum. This hardy 
Nasturtium is quite rare in the south of England, but in the 
north and in Scotland, it is to be found in almost every cottage 
garden. The Carnation is a popular plant in England, and 
they are seen in many gardens — mostly tall, lanky plants, with 
a few very large flowers, stiffly tied to stakes. At Gravetye 
carnations are grown in great masses; such a profusion of the 
flowers indeed 1 have never seen and no stakes! Indeed, 1 
cannot remember seeing any stakes anywhere here, except some 
to support Sweet Peas, which grew so tall that it was necessary 
to stand on a chair to pick the flowers. 
Perhaps the most unique feature of these gardens, and the 
one Mr. Robinson is proudest of, is the Heath garden, in which 
are gathered all the varieties of Heather that are hardy enough 
for the Sussex climate. This is on a sloping bank, and the 
different varieties of Heather are planted in masses with just a 
few picturesque Scotch pines and grass walks leading in and out. 
In August the place is a mass of pink, purple and white bloom, 
and 1 am told that there is not a month in the year when bloom 
is wholly lacking. 
ROSE TIME IN THE ROSE GARDEN AT GRAVETYE MANOR 
A homelike structure is the Manor House, built in 1596 and embodying the pleasant traditions of 
English life, with its terraces and garden walls and sense of warm, friendly intimacy with the ground 
