i68 



IRISH GARDENING. 



Climbing Plants. 



THE decoration of bare walls and ugly 

 corners is a problem that is always with 

 us. It is at all times a matter of interest 

 when visiting the gardens of our friends to note 

 how this question has been solved, and with 

 what results. To clothe unlovely things with 

 beauty and to convert an eyesore into an object 

 of artistic delight must always give intense 

 pleasure to the maker of a garden. In the 

 matter of planting and training it is always best 

 to allow the climber 

 to follow as closely 

 as possible its own 

 natural mode of 

 growth and to dis- 

 pense with such arti- 

 ficial aids as nailing 

 and tying, except in 

 such cases as are 

 absolutely necessary. 

 In establishing a 

 climber care should 

 be taken to acquaint 

 oneself of the natu- 

 ral requirements of 

 the plant selected, 

 and to provide it with 

 the means by which 

 it can do its best to 

 fulfil the particular 

 object in view. 



A point of much 

 interest in the growth 

 of climbing plants is 

 the method by which 

 they climb. Plants 

 like hop, morning- 

 glory {/pttKVd), con- 

 volvulus, and Allegh- 

 any vine {^Adlumia 

 cirrhosa) are twiners, 

 and therefore require 

 rod-like supports to 

 twine their slender 

 stems round. Such 

 climbers are useful for covering trees, poles, and 

 the like. It is interesting to note that the tips of 

 the twining shoots of any particular twiner 

 always revolve in one particular direction — for 

 example, those of the hop twine in the direction 

 of motion of the hands of a watch, while the 

 convolvulus works in the opposite direction. 

 The Alleghany vine is a capital grower. It is a 

 biennial, with beautiful maidenhair-like leaves 

 and purple, drooping flowers, which seed freely. 

 For covering low shrubs in a warm corner 

 nothing could be better. 



In clematis and in the Canary creeper {Tropce- 

 (/Jiaii'j it is the base of the leaf-stalk that twines 



Photo hyl 



round and grips the support. Both of these are 

 extremely useful. The common wild clematis is 

 very handsome when carrying its masses of 

 long-tailed, hoary-looking fruit, while the utility 

 of the Canary creeper is well known. Such 

 climbers as these may be well used to brighten 

 up clumps of evergreen with their contrast of 

 colour. It is certainly much more artistic as 

 well as more natural to grow climbers upon 

 living shrubs and trees rather than to train them 

 along poles or other specially erected supports. 

 It would be a simple matter to keep the tree 



within bounds so as 

 to adapt it to the 

 particular climbing 

 plant we elect to use. 

 The Virginian 

 creeper clings to the 

 surface of walls and 

 bark of trees by 

 means of suckers at 

 the end of tendril- 

 like processes. If you 

 happen to have a 

 mixed border backed 

 by a fence a striking 

 autumn effect can be 

 obtained by using this 

 creeper. It will give 

 a gorgeous back- 

 ground of crimson, 

 scarlet and gold. The 

 wild clematis, too, 

 may be so used if a 

 low -toned back- 

 ground is more suited 

 to your colour 

 scheme. Very use- 

 ful, too, are the 

 scrambling climbers 

 or those which, like 

 the blackberry and 

 rambling roses, cling 

 by means of hooked 

 prickles. 



A large number of 

 climbers support their 

 slender stems by means of tendrils. Some, like 

 the Everlasting pea, have leaf-tendrils, while 

 others have branch tendrils — as the gourds and 

 wild Balsam apple {Echinocystis lobata). The 

 last named plant is a rapidly-growing annual 

 that may attain a height of nearly twenty feet 

 during the season. Its little greenish-white 

 flowers are succeeded by clusters of prickly 

 gooseberry-like fruit. Lastly, for present notice 

 is the climbing device of the ivy which 

 holds on to its support by means of aerial 

 roots. There are few climbers so universally 

 useful as the ivy. It may be had in great 

 variety as to form of leaves and colour, and 



\\V.J Mitchison 



Clematis Montana Grandiflora 



At Dunshane, the residence of E. F. Moore, Esq. 



