220 TIIK FLORIST. 



Our two favourite Vines, then, for the adornment of cottages, in 

 the Northern States, are the double Prairie Rose and the Cliinese 

 Wistaria. Why vvc Hke these best is, because they have the greatest 

 number of good qualities to recommend them. In the first })lace, they 

 are hardy, tln-iving in all soils and exposures ; in the second place, they 

 are luxuriant in their growth, and produce an ellect in a very short 

 time, after which they may be kept to the limits of a single pillar on 

 the piazza, or trained over the whole side of a cottage ; in the last 

 place, they are rich in the foliage, and beautiful in the blossom. 



Now, there are many wall-plants more beautiful than these in 

 some respects, but not for this purpose and taken altogether. For 

 cottage drapery, a popular creeper must be one that will grow any 

 \vhere, with little care, and must need no shelter, and the least possi- 

 ble attention, beyond seeing that it has something to run on, and a 

 looking over, pruning, and tying up once a year — say in early si)ring. 

 This is precisely the character of these two. They will give the 

 greatest amount of beauty with the least care, and in the greatest 

 number of places. 



The Prairie Roses are no doubt known to most of you. They 

 have been raised from seeds of the wild Rose of Michigan, which 

 clambers over high trees in the forests, and are remarkable for the 

 profusion of their very double flow^ers (so double, that they always 

 look like large pouting buds, rather than full-blown Roses) ; and 

 their extreme hardiness and luxuriance of growth, — shoots of twenty 

 feet in a single year being a not uncommon sight. Among all the 

 sorts yet known the Queen of the Prairies (deep pink) and Superba 

 (nearly white) are the best. 



For a cottage climber, that will take care of itself better than 

 almost any other, and embower door and windows with rich foliage 

 and flowers, take the common Boursault Rose. Long purplish shoots, 

 foliage always fresh and abundant, and bright purplish blossoms in 

 June, as thick as stars in a midnight sky, — all belong to this plant. 

 Perhaps the richest and ])retticst Boursault is the one called by the 

 nurserymen Amadis, or Elegans ; the flower a bright cherry colour, 

 becoming crimson purple as it fades, with a delicate stripe of white 

 through an occasional petal. 



There are two very favourite climbers that belong properly to the 

 Middle States, as they are a little tender, and need protection to the 

 north or east. One of them is the Japan Honeysuckle {Lonicera 

 japonica, or fiexuosd) ; the species M'ith very dark, half evergreen 

 leaves, and a profusion of lovely delicate white and fawn-coloured 

 blossoms. It is the queen of all Honeysuckles for cottage walls 

 or veranda pillars ; its foliage is always so rich ; it is entirely free 

 from the white aphis (which is the pest of the old sorts) ; and it 

 blooms (as soon as the jilant gets strong) nearly the whole summer, 

 — affording a perpetual feast of beauty and fragrance. The other is 

 the sweet-scented Clematis (C. famwula), the very type of delicacy 

 and grace, whose flowers are broidered like pale stars over the whole 

 plant in midsummer, and whose perfume is the most spiritual, im- 

 palpable, and yet far-spreading of all vegetable odours. 



