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Sir George & The Park

A Visitor in 1858

Victoria Regia Lily – first planted at Leigh Park in 1852, a gift from Sir William Hooker at Kew
Victoria Regia Lily – first planted at Leigh Park in 1852, a gift from Sir William Hooker at Kew
The Lily in the glasshouse today
The Lily in the glasshouse today

Our readers will see by a notice in our advertising columns that specimens of the Agave Americana (American Aloes) are now in flower at Leigh Park, the residence of Sir George Staunton, Bart.

The worthy baronet allows his gardens and grounds to be inspected by all who have a taste for floriculture; and rarely does the florist find so perfect a collection of that of Leigh Park. The two aloes now in flower are upwards of 24 feet in height.

They each consist of a single stem, raising abruptly from the centre of the plant, quite bare for about 10 feet, and then adorned with a profusion of flowers to the summit. But the aloes form but a small portion of the attractions of Sir George Staunton’s interesting collection, which, under the presiding genius of Mr Alexander Scott, who for many years has had the entire arrangement of the plant-houses and grounds, has attained so high a celebrity in the floral world.

The queen of water lilies – the Victoria Regia – is here seen enshrined in a miniature Crystal Palace, and surrounded by the Egyptian Lotus, the Sacred Lotus of India, and an endless variety of other aquatic plants. Adjoining the “Victoria” house is another of larger dimensions, containing a remarkable collection of cocoa, coffee, cinnamon, and tea trees; also bananas, dates, and other natives of a foreign clime; then a singular array of orchids, whose “spirit roots know naught of earth,” enchains the attention; and after these, a multitude of ferns, collected from every part of the globe.

Then there are the pine-pits, orangeries, vineries, peach-houses, and, though last, not least, the exquisitely-arranged flower garden, and the romantic grounds and lake, with its miniature ships, its swans, and the quaintly-devised summer-houses which ornament its shores. Few towns can boast of so perfect a bijou in their neighbourhood, and the thanks of the community are due to the respected proprietor of Leigh Park for his liberality in throwing open its gates to all visitors.

 

Hampshire Telegraph, 25 September 1858

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