28 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 



CHAPTER IV 

 STOVE CLIMBERS 



HORTICULTURALLY the only difference between climbers 

 for the greenhouse and climbers for the stove is one of 

 temperature. Large tropical houses are not numerous in 

 this country, for the very good reason that they are costly 

 to maintain, and as the means necessary to provide the 

 required temperature have to be mainly artificial, plants 

 so cultivated are rarely happy. The conditions in nature 

 are very different from those provided by hot water pipes 

 and a liberal use of the hosepipe and syringe. Most 

 important of all, direct sunlight is too often wanting for 

 the successful cultivation of plants which in nature are 

 generally exposed to bright sunshine. Climbers have 

 developed the habit of struggling upwards in the effort to 

 grow beyond the canopy of foliage of the trees which shut 

 out the direct sunlight. They require an abundance of 

 light and air for their proper development, and for the 

 production of flowers and fruits. It is for this reason that 

 climbers from distant tropical regions do not flower in 

 cultivation with us satisfactorily; they miss the sunshine 

 and air which they get on the roof of the forest in the 

 tropics. Such plants as the Bauhinia, Camoensia maxima, 

 Hodgsonia heteroclita, Hexacentris, and some of the Aris- 

 tolochias are of this character. At the same time there 

 are many tropical climbers which can be successfully 

 grown in plant houses. 



In these days stove plants are less popular than they 



