78 SUMMER CLIMBERS. 



The old Scllya heterophylla, and the more recently introduced S. linearis, are 

 both very pretty evergreen half-hardy climbers. In the south of England and 

 south of Ireland, the 8. heterophylla is sufficiently hardy to bear exposure against a 

 wall, with a slight protection in very severe winters. The Solly a heterophylla reaches 

 the height of five or six feet ; S. linearis about four or five feet. Both have bright 

 blue flowers, those of the latter species being much the largest. Propagated both 

 by seeds and cuttings. 



To the foregoing, we may add the Solatium jasminoides, an evergreen of rapid 

 growth, with pink flowers very freely produced. It is usually treated as a 

 greenhouse plant, but appears to be quite hardy on a wall. At Kew, several plants 

 have been exposed in winter, with scarcely any protection. And we think that if 

 the stems were well matted up, and the roots carefully screened from excess of 

 moisture in autumn, that it would pass unscathed through our moderate winters, 

 in the midland and eastern counties. 



Among the Convolvulus tribe, are several very showy, almost hardy plants, the 

 most generally useful of which is, perhaps, the Calystegia pubeseens, remarkable for 

 producing the only double flowers of the order. We find this plant to be quite 

 hardy in ordinary winters. It dies down annually, and succeeds best in a good 

 rich loam, in which its growth is very luxuriant. The flowers are large, and 

 compensate for any imperfection of form, by their great abundance. A single- 

 flowered variety has originated at Shrubland, Suffolk, the seat of Sir "William 

 Middleton, but we are not aware if it is yet obtainable through the trade, or 

 whether it may be looked on as a permanent departure from the original type. 



In the allied genus Convolvulus, we have some very interesting species; C. 

 Iryonmfolius ; C. chinensis ; C. hirsutm ; C. emarg hiatus ; and C. italieus, are the 

 most desirable, and are as hardy as the Calystegia. Like that, these are herbaceous 

 perennials, the stem dying down every season. The popular annual known as the 

 Major Convolvulus, though it is in fact a Pharbitis, is too familiar to need any 

 extended notice ; but one of the perennial species of the same genus claims a few 

 words, the Pharbitis Learii, the most splendid plant of the whole Order, though 

 too tender to bear a prolonged exposure in the open air. It will, however, succeed 

 in warm situations against a south wall in the summer months, where, if its 

 growth is less luxuriant than in the greenhouse or stove, it nevertheless forms an 

 exceedingly attractive object. It is readily increased by layers of the bottom 

 shoots. 



The genus Tropceolum brings us to the annual climbers, of which the pretty 

 T. Canariense, or Canary Flower, is perhaps the most popular, though it contains many 

 perennial species. We have already figured and described (at page 24) one of the 

 most interesting of these, the T. speciosum ; and we avail ourselves of this oppor- 

 tunity of stating, that it succeeds best against a north wall, and not one of southerly 



