20 VILLA GARDENINCt part i 



ever the best plants require the space the nurses must give way, 

 even if they have to be destroyed. For the first few years but 

 little will be required beyond annual regulation with the knife, 

 and all things require a little help sometimes. It may be that 

 a strong growth has been developed, which is monopolising the 

 strength of the plant and injuring the natural leader, and this 

 should be checked in time. With the majority of permanent trees 

 and shrubs the knife should be used only to secure the symmetry 

 of the plant, or, in other words, to maintain the balance of power ; 

 but as regards the nurses, or those things planted for shelter only, 

 when they have served their intended purpose there should be no 

 hesitation about dealing with them, either with knife or spade. 

 The common Laurel, besides being an excellent plant for making 

 blinds, and for nursing tender things, may be used with excellent 

 effect in covering banks, or for creating a green base for pictorial 

 trees, such as the Weeping Birch and the variegated Holly. When 

 submitted to an annual pruning to keep them low, they produce a 

 striking effect. 



Climbers for Buildings, "Walls, etc. — The most unsightly 

 building may be made beautiful by a covering of living plant 

 growth. Let but a spray of Ivy attach itself to a hard, bare brick 

 wall, and gradually it steals upwards, spreading out laterally as it 

 advances, imparting a tone and finish to the dead face of the wall 

 or building in a way which no hand of man can rival. Creepers 

 on the outside of the dwelling are on a par with the paper and 

 curtains of the interior, and they add to its appearance in proportion 

 to the value of the materials employed. A Rose-covered cottage 

 would to some minds be preferable to one covered with Ivy, but 

 the Ivy should not be despised, as it will succeed where Roses 

 would fail. Old-fashioned houses of a mixed style of architecture 

 may be appropriately covered with creepers in variety. Roses, 

 Clematises, Honeysuckles, and Jasmines may blend in one sweet 

 mixture, festooning over verandahs, or rambling up the gables. 

 But in modern houses there is often an advantage in planting each 

 aspect with a different kind of plant ; the south side, for instance, 

 may be covered with Roses, iising such rapid growing kinds as 

 Mardchal Niel and Gloire de Dijon to cover tlie upper part and 

 ramble about the chimneys, with the less vigorous Teas and a few 

 of the strong growing Hybrid Perpetuals for clothing the bottom. 

 The western aspect would look well covered with the Pyracantha. 

 Though its growth is slow, when once the wall was covered tlie 

 effect would be permanent, and it is worth waiting a few years for. 

 The north might be covered with Veitch's variety of the Virginian 

 reeper, which clings to the wall like Ivy. The foliage dies off in 



