[From
The Rothschild Gardens, by Miriam Rothschild, pp. 12-13] between 1850 and 1914 [the Rothschild gardens] spanned England, France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland... All the Rothschilds were enthusiastic devotees of heated greenhouses and the propagation of exotic plants, especially tropical orchids and luxury fruit... In their gardens they collected rhododendrons and iris species and endless varieties of decorative plants. Edmond at Boulogne and Lionel at Exbury became noted horticulturalists, experimenting with crosses of carnations, arums, orchids and rhododendrons and propagating orchids by advanced laboratory methods... [Charles'] collection of irises and orchids went to Kew on his death... members of the family sent collector's abroad to find rare and interesting plants for their gardens....
[Ibid, p. 18:] Owing to the destruction of the two World Wars, not only a number of the gardens were lost, but also the bulk of papers relating to them, including all the drawings and plans. Their origins are mostly shrouded in mystery...
[Ibid, p. 20:] At the turn of the century the Rothschild gardens reached their maximum size, varying from six acres at Ashton to 135 hectares at Grasse...
[Ibid, p. 23:] At the Royal Horticultural Society's shows between 1889 and 1913, Rothschilds won 374 awards for [a wide variety of plants -- blue waterlilies, orchids and] moss roses...
[Ibid, p. 29:] a PHOTO of roses climbing up the walls of a greenhouse at Ashton Wold
[Ibid, p. 34:] During the Second World War the rose beds at Ashton were grassed over and grew vegetables
[Ibid, p. 72:] Ascott was originally a farmhouse built in 1606 by James I... When Leopold acquired it... it formed a portion of the Mentmore Estate in Buckinghamshire... Leopold laid out the garden himself... the Ascott plan closely followed [Francis] Bacon's design for an "ideal garden"...
