HARDY CLIMBERS 13 



covered with Tamarix, a glorious object at all times, and 

 especially so when in flower. The Camellia when trained 

 flat against the wall is both effective and happy. Sir 

 Joseph Paxton used it largely in this way, and it is 

 common enough grown against a wall in the south of 

 England. 



From what has been said it will be evident that there 

 are many free-growing shrubs, and a considerable number 

 of what are known as trees that may be turned to account 

 in the furnishing of walls and fences. Good use is some- 

 times made of the wall for the double purpose of affording a 

 certain amount of protection and giving support to shrubs 

 that are too tender to bear a more open position. The 

 walls at Kew and in other gardens where large collections 

 are grown are wholly employed for this purpose. Quite a 

 long list of tender shrubs which are happy when grown 

 close to a wall might be given from the Kew experience 

 alone. The purpose of this book, however, is not so much 

 to show how many plants there are that could be 

 grown against walls, with advantage to the plants them- 

 selves, as to point out the best of those which have been 

 successfully cultivated in this manner. 



The most useful climber in the world is the Ivy, a 

 strong statement perhaps, but one which few Englishmen 

 would gainsay. It will make the ugliest of buildings pic- 

 turesque, it will clothe old tree trunks, cover walls and 

 fences, and form picturesque pillars at comparatively little 

 cost ; it will furnish the ground as no other shrub can ; 

 it will grow in conditions where few other plants will 

 live ; and as for soil, almost any kind will satisfy the Ivy 

 indeed, it will grow where there is scarcely any soil at all. 

 "A rare old plant is the Ivy green." There are so many 



