CULTURIST

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 9 January 1929, Page 5

CULTURIST

“Gardening Illustrated” publishes the following interesting account of a visit paid by a correspondent to the garden of the late Reginald Farrer on , the eighth anniversary of his death. .It describes many well-known finds of the great plant collector and features of his garden:— “To-day is the eighth anniversary of Mr Reginald Farrer’s untimely death in Burma, and as less than a week ago I was privileged to visit his Yorkshire garden, still carefully maintained in his memory by his mother, I send you a few notes which may be of interest. “In the Old Rock Garden, as he named it, still flourishes exceedingly his Harebell poppy (Meconopsis quintuplinervia), and there are one or two of his original plants of Edraianthus serpyllifolius major, not very large, but witness of their tenacity to life. It may be remembered that Farrer imported from the Balkans some Ramondia Nataliae ‘on the promise that the batch con-; tamed an albino form’ and that ‘out of all the high-priced bale only one plant bore me true white flowers.’ This same plant, apparently, still flourishes, although defying attempts at increase. Gentian Farreri, one of the most beau-' tiful flowers named after him, is here, but is not at home, and refuses to settle down, which is rather sad; but his bog garden, the scree, stocked with many lovely little saxifrages, and the surrounding banks and glens stocked with innumerable small and precious bulbs arc ever a joy. “In the new garden can be seen Campanula pusilla Miranda, considered by Farrer to be one of his greatest finds,' with its large silver-grey square shouldered bells, larger than any I had ever seen under the name, and there also I came across his original little moraine; you will remember his description .of it: •Where the track winds round the pool, oast a dell carpeted with Dryas, primula farinosa, and Gentiana verna, it debouches at last upon the main path. And there, jutting out into it, is"; my toy garden, my baby moraine, the. particular pet joy of my heart.’ Yes, his moraine, built of four limestone rocks remains, though its occupants, among them Campanula Allioru and Omplvilodes Lueiliac, have withered these many summers.

“In the Cliff Garden, a wall of rock forming one side of a small lake, the home of many wild duck, silver saxifrages and Ramondias (the large form of Ramondia pvrenaica) not only flourish, but sow their seed in tufts of moss on the sheer cliffside, where young plants abound. Hero I discovered _ a seedling of Primula Allioni, and high overhead, as I stood on. the .mountain path, with the waters of the lake 20 feet below, could be seen drifts of Primula marginalia, aged Primula .auricula with stems nearly an inch in dunmeter. and the blue-flowered hybrid decora .

“But T must terminate these notes and pass on with the memory of the beautiful memorial erected to Reginald Farcer beneath the hill he loved, and, the recollection of the cliff with its alpine plants, now happy wildlings—a monument to the heart that loved them well—and of his particular pet, his baby moraine.”

“F. H. Fisher.”