TALBOT3654

Abbotsbury ¹
15 April

Dear Henry

I never had so doleful a tale to tell of the garden as this year – thanks to the theory of chances, we are quit of such winters for the next century – so I shall immediately begin to plant over again everything I have lost, which I think a degree of resolution seldom equalled.

It is quite a disgrace to the climate to have Narcissus, Sedums Saxifrages, Gladiolus, Trichonemas &c frozen or rotted in the ground!

We have lost nearly all your little wild Tazetta of Genoa, such a general favorite from its delicacy & fragrance ditto paper Narcissus, ditto præcox, ditto double polyanthus Narcissus – & one particular variety from Naples with narrow sharp reflex petals which I had encreased & is all gone dead. I had no idea that one narcissus was tenderer than another, or I should have put one at least on the terrace – where I believe none are destroyed tho’ the flower is shabby for this season. The fine Dutch yellow & other sorts seem hardier than the original Italian natives.

We have however preserved a few interesting plants such as Convolvulus Cantabrica & Cneorum, Linum flavum & cæspitosum (not monogynum nor suffruticosum) Rhodod. arboreum & campanulatum & hybrids, Daphne odora, Pancratium maritimum, Ilex perado, Clematis montana, Yucca aloifolia, Spiræa Nepalensis, Rosa berberifolia, Leptospermum marginatum & I hope pubescens – Onoclea sensibilis Pteris Cretica, Scilla maritima, Iris tuberosa & scorpioides & persica – The Edwardsias that were so very fine, are in a doubtful state – Pinus excelsa seems quite hardy – so is not longifolia – but Halepensis & Brutia have stood – & Juniperus Bermudiana. Fuchsias have become herbaceous as well as many trees & shrubs.

I think Ribes sanguineum is one of the best introductions I have seen a long time, it is now lovely as are also our dwarf Iris – our almond tree – & all the fruit trees – The only Cape plants that have survived are a few oxalis – & hybrid gladiolus – & Myrsine Africana or retusa Primula Palinuri, Campanula muralis & fragilis, stand perfectly – Trillium erectum Ornithog. exscapum, Androm. calyculata Scilla Italica, Leucoj. pulchellum & plenty of Tulips are in flower – & to my agreable [sic] surprise, the Aleppo tulips of which ten are in flower, all turn out the same as Raddi’s ² Tulip of Florence, even to the pale stripe in the interior petals, which people would tell me was an accidental circumstance, but which I have found in every individual in Italy, & now again in Aleppo. I have one Tulip sort from Col. Chesney, ³ which will not flower but mind I prophesy it will have the pale line in it

Y^rs Aff
W F S

Horatia ⁴ has recovered her cold, she takes a small but select cargo with her to Lacock. I fear my Euphorbia dendroides is dead – Pithyusa is not. Veneta & Myrsinites as fine as ever – & Persica – a new one. The German oxlip turns out very pretty but scentless. Even Anthyllis Barba jovis has not perished, but Anagyris has – as also Carob – Lentiscus – but not Terebinthus nor [Ritacia?] vera which surprises me.

Dorchester April sixteen 1838 W F Strangways
H. F. Talbot Esq
31 Sackville Street ⁵
London