THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 129 



HYBKID CLEMATIS. 



( With Coloured Plate of Cripps' " Star of India.") 



|HOUGH many times mentioned, described, and eulogized 

 in the Flobal World, the new Hybrid Clematis may 

 fairly allege against us that they have not yet had wbat 

 the world would call their " meed of praise." It is 

 greatly to be feared they cannot have it now, though the 

 publication of a figure of a fair sample of the race affords the oppor- 

 tunity, and the subject is peculiarly seasonable. The hybrid clematis 

 are indeed equally interesting, useful, and beautiful, and it is one 

 part of the debt we owe to them to say that in absolute merit they 

 far exceed our powers of eulogy. It is a most curious circumstance 

 that this new race of plants should come upon us, as it were, with a 

 rush. Nobody expected them, nobody wanted them ; very few prac- 

 tical florists would have conceded the possibility of their production ; 

 and now that the race comprises scores of magnificent varieties, it is 

 almost past belief that they exist at all, so splendid are tbey as com- 

 pared with the parent plants from which they have been derived by 

 systematic crossing. 



Premising that these plants produce a long succession and a great 

 profusion of large handsome flowers, varying considerably in colours, 

 but in every case extremely beautiful ; and the next most important 

 of their characters is hardiness, for they need no protection under 

 glass, but may take their place in the flower-garden and remain there 

 to illustrate in an agreeable manner the hackneyed phrase, " beauti- 

 ful for ever." But where is their place in the flower-garden ? 

 Strange to say it is in a certain sense everywhere, for most versatile 

 are their talents, if we may so speak of them. They may be trained 

 to walls and trellises to make glorious sheets of leaf and flower. 

 They may be allowed to fringe the overhanging brow of a rockery ; 

 cover a gaunt sunny bank with a drapery of startling magnificence ; 

 or furnish in the fashion of bedding plants large compartments on 

 the lawn, and in the wilderness where an even growth and sumptuous 

 flowers are indispensable. The fact is their thread-like shoots can be 

 trained up or down, or on a dead level. Many a lover of flowers who 

 has seen a grand Pleroma at a flower show, and sighed to enjoy the 

 ownership of such a treasure, may now be at peace and cease to envy 

 the wealthy. The hybrid clematis make glorious specimen plants 

 for the conservatory, and no Pleroma or Franciscea can surpass 

 them — perhaps cannot equal them — when the best varieties are 

 managed in the best way. 



The hybrid clematis will thrive in any good garden soil that is 

 well drained, and, generally speaking, adapted to bedding plants. But 

 the soil which suits them best is a light, rich, sandy loam; the lighter 

 the soil the better, but it cannot be too deep or too well drained. 

 They are hardy enough for all except the bleakest climates in these 

 islands, but a warm sheltered position and full exposure to sunshine 

 are conditions that conduce greatly to their prosperity, and, conse- 

 vol. vi. — no. v. 9 



