220 THE ESSEX NATURALIST. 
Very few nurserymen then specialized in herbaceous plants, 
but a certain number of old plants occasionally found their way 
to Prothero and Morris’ Sale Rooms. Mrs. Berkeley was as 
keen to recover the old plants that were to be found as was her 
mother, and she begged to be allowed to-attend the sales with 
her governess. There are still at the Cheapside Sale Rooms 
some of the old hands who remember her sitting at the table 
keenly awaiting her chance to buy any unusual herbaceous plants 
which might be offered. 
Growing up in such favourable surroundings and under the 
influence of such a keen gardener as Mrs. Willmott, it was small 
wonder that the eager little plant-lover should have developed 
into an accomplished gardener and a good botanist. 
As a child her greatest joy was to slip away after lessons 
to the garden, where no gardening jobs came amiss, from catch- 
ing slugs and caterpillars to collecting seeds. 
The herbaceous borders at Warley Place, as they are now, 
are largely due to her efforts. She had always a keen sense of 
proportion, and a rare taste in effective grouping. The lessons 
learnt at Warley stood her in good stead when she came to make 
the thousand yards of herbaceous borders at Spetchley into — 
the finest in the whole country. But she had previously had 
her own Essex garden, for the first years of her married life were 
spent at Warley Lea. The land lent itself to skilful treatment, 
and the flower garden she made there soon became remarkable 
for its beauty and charm. It was here she commenced to cross- 
fertilise primroses, a work which was to give the garden primrose 
a new and wonderful development. Its aim was a right combina- 
tion of colour, size and form, with robust constitution. In many 
instances development in hardy plants has led to monstrosity, 
deformity or coarseness, but Mrs. Berkeley never lost sight of 
the prime importance of refinement, and her work of 25 years 
‘upon the primrose has prcduced results that entirely satisfy 
the most fastidious taste, for the perfection attained is of the 
foremost yet reached in any race of hardy plants. 
Although Essex rightly claims the beginning of this excellent 
work we must yield to Worcestershire its full achievement, as 
well as the fame of the wonderful gardens she made at Spetchley, 
where the beautiful setting, fine trees, and ideal climate, all lent 
themselves to her magic tcuch. No description could do justice 
