There is perhaps no place within the British islands so strongly
reminiscent of Italy as St. Anne’s, in County Dublin, one of the Irish
seats of Lord Ardilaun. This impression is first received from the
number and fine growth of the grand Ilexes, which abound by the sides of
the approaches and in the park-land near the house. For there are Ilexes
in groups, in groves, in avenues--all revelling in the mild Irish air
and nearness to the sea.
The general impression of the place, as of something in Italy, is
further deepened by the house of classical design and of palatial
aspect, both within and without, that has that sympathetic sumptuousness
that is so charming a character of the best design and ornamentation of
the Italian Renaissance. For in general when in England we are palatial,
we are somewhat cold, and even forbidding. We stand aloof and endure our
greatness, and behave as well as we are able under the slightly
embarrassing restrictions. But in Italy, as at St. Anne’s, things may be
largely beautiful and even grandiose, and yet all smiling and easily
gracious and humanly comforting.
As it is in the house, so also is it in the garden; the same sentiment
prevails, although the garden shows no effort in its details to assume
an Italian character. But apparent everywhere is the remarkable genius
of Lady Ardilaun--a queen among gardeners. A thorough knowledge of
plants and the finest of taste; a firm grasp and a broad view, that
remind one of the great style of the artists of the School of
Venice--these are the acquirements and cultivated aptitudes that make a
consummate gardener.
The grounds themselves were not originally of any special beauty. All
the present success of the place is due to good treatment. Adjoining the
house, at the northern end of its eastern face, is a winter garden.
Looking from the end of this eastward, is a sight that carries the mind
directly to Southern Europe; an avenue of fine Ilexes, and, at the end,
a blue sea that might well be the Mediterranean. Passing to the left,
before the Ilexes begin, is a walk leading into a walled inclosure of
about two acres. Next the wall all round is a flower-border; then there
is a space of grass, then a middle group of four square figures, each
bordered on three sides by a grand yew hedge that is clipped into an
outline of enriched scallops like the edge of a silver _Mentieth_; a
series of forms consisting of a raised half-circle, then a horizontal
shoulder, and then a hollow equal to the raised member.
The genial climate admits of the use of many plants that generally need
either winter housing or some special contrivance to ensure well-being.
Thus there are great clumps of the blue African Lily (_Agapanthus_); and
Iris Susiana blooms by the hundred, treated apparently as an ordinary
border plant.
The picture shows a portion of a double flower-border in another square
walled garden, formerly a kitchen garden, and only comparatively lately
converted into pleasure-ground. Yews planted in a wide half-circle form
a back-ground to the bright flowers and to a statue on a pedestal. The
intended effect is not yet finished, for the trellis at the back of the
borders is hardly covered with its rambling Roses, which will complete
the picture by adding the needed height that will bring it into proper
relation with the tall yews. There is a cleverly invented edging which
gives added dignity as well as regularity, and obviates the usual
falling over of some of the contents of the border on to the path; an
incident that is quite in character in a garden of smaller proportion,
but would here be out of place. A narrow box edging, just a trim line of
green, has within it a good width of the foliage of Cerastium. The
bloom, of course, was over by the middle of June, but the close carpet
of downy white leaf remains as a grey-white edging throughout the summer
and autumn.