With a view to studying this we wandered round many gardens in Tuscany. We were shown lovely loggias overhung with climbing roses; masses of tall graceful arums and many coloured carnations in pots, stood beneath them in cool shade. Flowering bushes outside were carpeted with sweet-smelling violets, walls and arbours were hidden under lavender wistaria, white and pink camellias lit up the borders of shrubberies. Nothing, of all this luxuriant vegetation, was arranged quite in accordance with our English taste. We were dissatisfied, until one day we chanced upon a garden which seemed to combine successful herbaceous arrangement with ornamental pot decoration.
A narrow country lane, hedged in on either side by cypresses, led to the front of the villa. The terrace, with old-fashioned stone seats built into the corners of the wall, invited the passer-by to rest beneath the shade of an overhanging sycamore and look down upon a lovely stretch of country below. Near by, dense box hedges sheltered some plantations of fruit trees, all pink and white with blossom, while beneath grew delicious scented narcissus. The shadows played upon the grey and green of the olive gardens, and deep blue in the distance were the hills round Fiesole. Florence itself was hidden, but close to us the stately Certosa crowned her dome-shaped hill. To the left, an opening in the hills showed us the misty plain of Prato, looking like a still lake in dreamland dotted with small white ships. The villa door stood temptingly open, and ascending a flight of stone steps we entered the small, cool, paved court.
It was different from most courtyards. In the place of orange trees in pots there were flower beds amidst the paving. Each was round in shape and contained a graceful lilac bush carpeted with mauve violas. In the centre of the court was a well with ornamental ironwork railings, against which stood handsome Amaryllis lilies in pots. The walls of the house had roses climbing up them; so robust were they that their stems had twined around the iron window gratings, making, with their thorns, a double security against attack. The whole effect was cool and quiet—a good preparation for the blaze of colour which met us, as we passed under the dark archway into the garden itself.
What struck us most, when first we saw it, was the height above the ground to which colour had been raised, by planting shrubs in large ornamental terra-cotta pots. It will be seen upon the plan, that these not only stand upon the paths and walls, but are arranged at intervals, in the very midst of the herbaceous borders. Large grey stones, about a foot above the level of the flower bed, are placed for the pots to stand upon. A groove, in the form of a cross, is cut in the stone, to allow the drainage from the pot to run off easily. These stones and the lower portion of the pots are partially hidden by groups of irises, pæonies, aquilegias and roses, growing in the border. Just a touch of the terra-cotta flowerpot with its handsome ornamentation of wreaths, is seen above the blue and white of the irises or the many-coloured ranunculuses, and then, above, high up, we get the foliage and colour of the shrub which is planted in the pot. It is certainly a most effective way of giving height and variety to a flat, rather uninteresting piece of ground.
AN ITALIAN POT GARDEN
IN ORDER TO SHEW THE LAY OVT OF THE GARDEN MORE DISTINTCLY THE POTS ONLY ARE SHEWN.
ON THE PLAN THE POTS ARE INDICATED THVS
DRAWN FROM PLANS MADE BY MISS MARY CAMPION.
Most of the pots had lemons or oranges growing in them. In our country it is possible to have these only in the more sheltered parts, but laurustinus, box trees, bays, lilacs, hydrangeas or roses could be used instead. Even should the pots occasionally have to stand empty, they are so exceedingly handsome and decorative in themselves, that they only improve the general appearance of the garden. They are made in different shapes and sizes. Some are very elaborately ornamented, but the kind of which a sketch is given are the simplest and most dignified.