House and Garden 
one or two fine standard magnolias and some 
bushy pomegranates. The beds are masses 
each of either pentstemons or peonies, ge¬ 
raniums or pinks. Standard and creeping 
roses, of every shade of pink and crimson to 
Persian yellow, bloom everywhere, and there 
are bushes of white spiraea and syringa, hedges 
of sweet peas, climbing clematis, fragrant 
thyme . . . the name of all the flowers 
would fill a volume. 
In the kitchen garden beyond the pilasters 
their huge branches over a wide space, 
hedged in by bushes of ilex too, so that the 
sun can penetrate nowhere. Here a stone 
table or two and garden chairs make it a per¬ 
fect resting place. Nor is the sound of water 
lacking to freshen the air, for, beside a deep 
rock-edged pool, looking cool and dark 
under hanging ivy, there is, beyond the trees, 
but close enough to be heard, a round foun¬ 
tain with a high jet of water. Verbenas of 
every shade make a most lovely border to 
THE HEAD OF THE STREAM IN THE GROVE 
and their much bedraped eighteenth century 
statues, figs, peaches, apples and pears grow 
in rows; the walks are dappled by the shade 
of many lemon trees in pots, of bushes of 
euonymus, forsythia and diospyros and 
mimosa, while the borders are bright with 
carnations, Shirley poppies, roses and ma¬ 
donna lilies planted in masses. 
On all these the hot Italian sun is beating 
all day and the gardeners need all the water 
at hand to keep them alive. It is delicious 
to saunter away from the garden, beautiful 
as it is, and rest under the dense shade of 
some gigantic ilexes which grow in a group 
to the east of the formal garden, spreading 
the fountain. These and a standard rose- 
tree, trained to fall down in long bloom- 
covered trails, are the only flowers to be 
seen, for from this point the garden becomes 
a charming little wilderness of shady paths, 
winding round a small lake, whereon are 
island and summer house reached by a rus¬ 
tic bridge, which completes the landscape. 
Among the many trees, beside ilexes, there 
are acacias, limes, poplars, planes, Judas trees, 
and some fine cedars and deodars. On the 
podere side this jardin anglais is surrounded 
by a wall, the plain continuation of the 
highly ornamented one in the garden. On 
the other, it runs along the length of the 
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