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SDJIMEK CLIMBERS. 



SUMMER CLIMBERS. 



Beautiful as are many of the half-hardy exotics employed as summer ornaments 

 of the open garden, they must yield the palm to the more luxuriant class of plants 

 popularly known as summer climbers, without a due proportion of which, no 

 garden, however perfect in other respects may be its arrangement, can be said to 

 be complete. By the feminine elegance of their growth, they lend an air of 

 freedom, which is sought for in vain in plants of a more restricted habit ; and 

 impart a charm to localities and objects the most formal in their character. In no 

 one point do the resources of modern gardeners present a more striking contrast to 

 those of the florists of the past generation, than in the case of climbing plants ; 

 for, whilst they were restricted to one or two annual species, the number of these 

 now available is, happily, so much increased, not only by recent introductions, but 

 also by the now ascertained hardiness of plants hitherto regarded as too tender for 

 the open air, that selections may be made suitable to gardens of any extent. 

 Dividing this class of plants, for convenience of treatment, into two groups — the 

 annuals and the perennials — we will notice, first, the most robust individuals com- 

 posing it — the perennials. 



At the head of the list we must, undoubtedly, place the Mandevilla suaveolens, 

 a Bolivian plant of comparatively recent importation, with large white fragrant 

 blossoms, similar in form to those of the common periwinkle, Tinea major ; both 

 plants belonging to the same natural order, the Dogbanes. The Mandevilla is 

 generally treated as a tender plant, being sometimes grown in a warm greenhouse 

 or conservatory, but not unfrequently in the stove. When cultivated in the border 

 of a good greenhouse, its blossoms are earlier and more copiously produced than in 

 the open air ; but with the average temperature of our summers, in a good loam 

 enriched with rotten manure, and a warm situation, it succeeds well out-doors in 

 the summer months. A good display of flowers cannot be expected unless the plant 

 be two or three seasons old ; and in order to insure its safe removal in the autumn, the 

 pot, which should be very large, may be plunged into the border, the bottom being 

 first broken out, to allow the roots to extend themselves freely. Its branches grow 

 to a considerable length in a single season ; but in autumn they may, if necessary, 

 be pruned back to within three or four feet of the soil. It requires to be kept from 

 frost in winter, and may be propagated by seeds, or cuttings of the root. On an 

 arched trellis, this noble plant forms a striking object when in flower. 



Fully equal to it, however, is the Taeson ia manicata, a plant allied to the Passion 

 Flowers, with blossoms of the richest scarlet, which, in established specimens, are 

 freely produced. Like the Mandevilla, the Tacsonias are classed as greenhouse 



