THE GARDENS OF WARLEY PLACE.
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Magazine, residing at Glazenwood, near Coggeshall, where he
had extensive nurseries. Curtis' Botanical Magazine was founded
in or about the year 1790, and continues to be issued at the
present day. It gives figures and descriptions of the most
interesting and noteworthy of newly introduced plants, and of
others which have not previously received adequate notice.
During the Victorian period Benjamin Cant, of Colchester, did
much to develop Rose Culture in England, being the first
professional gardener to specialize in one genus of plants. Cant's
descendants carry on the large rose nurseries which he estab-
lished.
Essex may be congratulated upon the fact that, four centuries
after the first English work upon plants was published, it still
attracts botanists, gardeners, and artists within its borders, for
the "Gardens of Warley Place" are regarded as a Mecca by all
plant lovers.
The Essex Field Club visited Warley Place in the summer of
1911, and the visit has been repeated in 1912, by the kind invi-
tation of Miss Willmott. It is therefore appropriate to place a
record of these beautiful gardens upon the pages of the Essex
Naturalist.
Warley Place passed into the possession of Miss Willmott's
parents when she was still quite young. From her early days
Miss Willmott took much interest in the gardens, assisting her
mother in their management. In due course they passed into
her complete control. The gardens as they now exist were
evolved—the beautiful Alpine Garden, the Well Mead Garden,
with the adjoining wild garden added as time passed, and the
old fish ponds made to serve as water gardens. The old orchard
was remodelled, and other changes made, but, in carrying out
these changes, care has been taken to leave unchanged the old
gardens, which tradition tells us remain to-day as they were
when laid out by Evelyn.
Miss Willmott's collection of living plants, including varieties
as well as species, probably exceeds one hundred thousand, and
these are carefully preserved in a living condition, and the likes
and dislikes of each plant have been studied before selecting its
place in the garden. Each plant insists upon a proper amount
of light and air, some demand chalky soils, others object to chalk.
Some insist upon damp, boggy situations, others demand dry