Vines and Creepers 



107 



sunflowers, which, when they grew to a height of ten feet, drew attention 

 from anything below. We led the gourd and cucumber over to the grape 

 arbour some distance away, also along the clothes-lines and posts. This 

 almost made a roof, and draped the front of the pen so prettily that the 

 objects inside were hardly noticeable at all. 



The wild cucumber is one of the most useful and ornamental of the 

 annual climbers. It has an extremely pretty leaf and feathery white flowers, 

 while the large oval seed-pod is covered with spines. It drops its seed very 

 abundantly, and will reappear year after year. 



A pergola in a formal garden at Brookline 



V. Pergolas — ^A Suggestion 



By "M." 



The word "pergola" is in common use to-day, yet you will not find it 

 in the International Dictionary, unless in some very recent edition. A pergola 

 might be defined as a sort of glorified grape arbour. The only difterence 

 is that a pergola is usually a costlier structure, and is supposed to be beautiful 

 in itself. Also, it may be covered with any kind of vine, not merely the 

 grape, as it is erected to display the beauty of lines and of foliage and of 

 flower, the item of fruit being wholly incidental. The old-fashioned grape 

 arbour was a shady retreat where the housewife might sew in peace, and 



