T1IE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Ooxuimit ^JO, 1$57< 
or Italian loggia, in the centre of the stone balustrading 
which bounds this low, level garden. Just as in the 
case of the centre walk in the balcony garden this avenue 
glade divides this garden into two sides right and left, 
both being exactly alike. Glancing over the ground 
more leisurely you see the main features are these:— 
A large artistic bed on each side of the fountain; a broad 
turf avenue crossing the central one, embellished with 
long beds of yellow Calceolarias ; then a sunk parterre, 
j from which this has been called the panel gardens, with 
a broad avenue beyond, next the balustrades, decorated 
with similar long beds of scarlet and pink Geraniums; 
j whilst the ends are flanked with Petunias and Holly¬ 
hocks. 
Descending the steps, and leaving a remark on the 
panel garden until we return, we move to the right, and 
! pass one of the large beds at the side of the fountain 
with artistic scroll work at the ends, surrounded with an 
edging of Yew, kept square, some fourteen inches in 
height, and three or four inches in breadth. These 
beds are filled with Geraniums on the shading 
system. The principle seems to be to begin with a white 
Geranium at the outside, as Hendersonii, called here 
| White Nosegay; then a light pink or rose, and deepening 
the colour until scarlet was reached in the centre. The 
bed was very full, as every bed I saw r w r as; but the heavy 
rains had made havoc with the colours. 
Shortly after passing this Yew bed, which has its 
counterpart on the opposite side of the fountain, the 
grass terrace becomes an avenue, turning suddenly more 
i eastward, coming thus in line, as far as I recollect, with 
the Calceolaria glade; and here a new style is adopted, 
the bottom of the bank finishing with a hedge of 
Fuchsias, and the opposite side being composed of long 
beds of Savin kept close and low, alternating with fine 
plants of upright Cypress and Arbor-vita ?. When you 
j imagine you have got to the end you turn abruptly a 
[ few yards to the right, and directly before you is the same 
avenue continued in a similar direction, and again a 
different system of management. On the right is the 
| block bank, consisting of roots and boulders, shrubs and 
| strong-growing, rough herbaceous plants, and especially 
; all having remarkable foliage, among which we noticed 
! Ferns, Gardener’s Garters, bunches of Fennel, and even 
huge leaves of Rhubarb, &c. On the opposite side is a fine 
ribbon border more than 200 feet in length, and backed 
by a wall of Laurels, but the border almost level from 
j side to side, thus contrasting greatly, independently of 
t its colours, with the steep bank opposite. The planting, 
so far as I recollect, was as follows:—Back row next 
j the Laurels a tall, bronzy orange Calceolaria; next 
Ageratum ; next white Petunia; next scarlet Geranium, 
such as Punch, followed by white Petunia, Ageratum, 
| and bordered next the grass with a fiue row of Prince 
of Orange Calceolaria. Mr. Foggo informed me that 
such arrangements are mostly altered every year, and 
that last season the plants at the back were higher and 
| sloping down to the front, and I should have liked that 
better. I have also a prejudice that when there is a 
centre and two sides to the ribbon the centre should be 
| the highest, and the border fall to, and be seen from 
both sides. Striking as the present arrangement is I 
i fear I should have been Goth enough, if the ribbon 
I border remained, to have removed part of the block 
bank farther up the hill, and had a sloping ribbon 
; border on both sides of the avenue, though, in thus 
i securing something like uniformity, I should deprive 
j myself of the charms of strong contrasts, one of the 
: features of the place. 
Returning towards the panel garden we are suddenly 
! introduced to a charming artistic scrolled parterre, called 
! the French garden, surrounded by a wall of Laurels, 
I and ornamented with statuary, &c. I have but a faint 
I remembrance of the plan of this garden on a ground¬ 
work of gravel, and edged with Box, and my remem¬ 
brance of the planting is quite as indistinct; but one or 
two reasons suggested themselves as the cause of the 
charm that at once rivets the visitor in admiration. 
The beds appropriated to flowers, however diversified in 
shape, are not greatly dissimilar in size, and are por¬ 
tioned out pretty equally over the whole parterre; the 
finer lines and scroll work, instead of being planted, are 
filled between the Box with silver sand. There is, 
therefore, no blaze of warm colour in one spot, with 
meagre thin lines of cold colours in another. 
Leaving this we shortly stand and look down on one 
of the panel parterres, sunk perhaps fifteen or eighteen 
inches below the surrounding glades, placed on gravel, 
with Box edging to the beds and grass round, and a 
sloping bank of turf to the level glades aboAm. The 
remark I hinted at making is just this—that it is difficult 
to see through the design and the mode of planting 
when looked down upon close at hand as a separate 
picture, though it seems perspicuous enough when the 
panel becomes, as it were, the artistic centre to sur¬ 
rounding masses of bright warm colours on the top of 
the glades, as seen from a little distance, and especially | 
from the staircase and the temple at its summit. This j 
will appear more clearly if you can conceive of six 
largish beds forming the centre of the panel. The ; 
centre bed we will suppose to be an obtuse oval, placed 
on the palm of your hand just behind the fingers; 
the fingers spread out, and more than doubled in width 
at the rounded points, will represent the other five beds. 
The centre bed is filled with yellow Calceolarias; the 
forefinger with Punch Geranium ; the two next fingers, 
one on each side, with Flower of the Day; and the two 
outsides with Lady Middleton, a fine bright rose, 
identical, I think, with what is called Trentham Rose in 
this neighbourhood. From this centre long, narrow, 
artistic scroll beds radiate on each side, but going 
farthest at the side farthest from the loggia, and these 
are filled with lilac and purple Verbenas. Looking at 
it, then, individually, it struck me that the centre was too 
radiant and massive for the wings. Considered as part 
of one whole it became very different. 
On the wide terrace glade in front of these panels 
(for both are alike) are long massive beds of yellow 
Calceolarias, edged with pink Verbenas, and on the 
terrace glades behind them, next the balustrading, are 
massive long beds in rows of scarlet Geraniums, and 
in the centre of that row four beds of salmon Compactum 
Nosegay, while on each side of the panel gardens are 
two long beds of white and two of purple Petunias, 
backed as it were with two large beds of mixed H 0 Hy. 
hocks. Very likely even now I have failed to catch 
; the prominent idea of the great artistes w r ho formed 
this beautiful garden; but in this age of imitation the 
; remark ventured upon may lead to the reflection that 
j what is extremely beautiful in one place may be very 
commonplace in another, wdien not accompanied with 
similar accessories and surroundings. 
Now, for the first time, we get up to the loggia and 
look over the balustrading; and again what a contrast! 
Here most of the stonework had been prepared for 
these gardens, and pieces and boulders remain pretty 
much as the masons had left them. Taste and genius 
are just as perceptible as in the rich panel garden. 
Ever and anon we came upon holes and pools filled 
with water, and supplied with Nymph aeas, Nuphars, 
Alisiwas, Irises, &c., whilst we thread our way among bold j 
jutting banks, supplied with Berberries, Furze, and other 
shrubs, lightened up with the Pampas and other showy ! 
Grasses, fine-foliaged plants, as Arundo donax, to which 
might be added groups of Maize, or Indian Corn. I 
think I saw some plants of Teasel, about which Mr. 
Beaton gave us an article some time ago; at any rate, 
such plants, Eryngiums, variegated Thistles, &c., would 
