BLACKLAND HOUSE in Wiltshire is where Polly Nicholson established Bayntun Flowers and where she keeps the National Collection of English Florists’ and Dutch historic tulips dating from the early 17th century. Visiting the garden in spring, I had witnessed a panoply of tulipomania under blossoming trees. There were tulips growing everywhere—in pots and tubs or colouring flowerbeds where, later, roses or perennials would flourish. Many more tulips had been planted in grass and the most cosseted historic rarities were lined out in rows, or arranged in vases on the long loggia table.
It was hard not to think that, after this celebration of bulbs, the garden would become less interesting. (When the tulips
