386 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



Others we have to pardon, remembering the 

 many good turns they do for us in the coun- 

 try and in town. 



Their role it is, not only to make the love- 

 ly more beautiful, but also to beautify the 

 unlovely. Over the hedgerows they scat- 

 ter showers of gipsy-roses, the lanes they 

 stud with starry stitchworts, white as milk, 

 along with cuckoo-loving campions, lilac 

 scabious, blue chicory, and all the other 

 weeds that lead their lives 'twixt dusty road 

 and meadow grass. No barren space, be it 



railway cutting' neglected churchyard, or 

 any other vacant spot, is left unfilled, at any 

 rate with leafage. 



" Soon is the foliage soft and green 

 Drifts of hawthorn fall for a s reen." 



Through all the changing seasons from 

 spring to winter's fall, the weeds and wild- 

 lings are very busy filling gaps and making 

 backgrounds for us. Let us be grateful, 

 and look with lenient eyes even upon our 

 " outcast garden-folk." — The Gardener's 

 Mamsine. 



IVY FOR PICTURE FRAMES. 



IVY is one of the best plants to have in the 

 house, as it bears a large amount of ne- 

 glect and abuse, and gratefully repays good 

 treatment. It is not rare to see a pot of ivy 

 placed where it can be trained around pic- 

 ture frames or mirrors, and thus border 

 them with living green. A good plan is to 

 dispense with the pot, or rather have a sub- 

 stitute for it, which is kept out of sight. 



Our illustration shows a picture frame 

 wreathed with ivy after this method. 

 Only a good-sized picture or mirror can be 

 treated in this way, and as such are usually 

 hung so that the top of the frame leans for- 

 ward, the space between the frame and the 

 wall is available for the receptable for the 

 plant. A pot or pan of zinc, of a wedge- 

 shape, and size to suit the space between the 

 frame and the wall, can be made by any tin- 

 smith. This is to be hung against the wall 

 so as to be quite concealed by the picture, 

 and the ivy tastefully trained over the frame. 

 A rustic frame is better suited to this pur- 

 pose, as it not only affords better facilities 

 for attaching the stems to the frame, but its 

 style seems better adapted to this kind of 

 decoration than more pretentious ones. Still, 

 a gilf frame may be made beautiful in the 

 same way. There is only one precaution to 



be used, viz. : Not to hang such a frame 

 over the fire place, for the combined heat 

 and dust would soon destroy the pi nt. Let 

 it hang so that it may face a north or east, 

 window. Don't forget the water; the pan 

 holding the plant is out of sight, and, there- 

 fore, should be kept in mind. 



Fig. 2656. Ivv for Picture Frames. 



