ON CLEMATISES 117 



plant that it is ; but it often gets into a terrible tangle, 

 and is not far short of being positively unsightly when 

 the leaves have fallen. Moreover, as the soil becomes 

 exhausted, the flowering falls off. The pruned, trained 

 plant is never ugly, leaves or no leaves ; and it produces 

 the finest of flowers large and full of glorious colour. 

 About every third year, some of the old soil should be 

 forked away from the roots and a fresh coat of loam, 

 leaf mould, and manure put on. A few pailfuls of liquid 

 manure will do good. 



The white variety of Jaekmanii is worth making a 

 note of, but it is not so valuable as the blue. Some 

 Clematis lovers like to mix the latter and flammula, for 

 the sake of the perfume which the latter possesses. 

 There was a movement to grow them as dwarf bedding 

 plants trained over hoops a few years ago, but it has 

 nearly died out. More convincing is the idea of grow- 

 ing them on groups of tall pillars in a large bed. The 

 bigger the boles used the better. If they are moderate- 

 sized tree trunks twelve feet out of the ground, no matter, 

 the Clematis will reach the top in one season if the soil 

 is rich, and in the second will be sprawling over them, 

 and dangling flower-laden shoots over the top as a kind 

 of flag of victory. 



Beautiful Varieties. Some of the large varieties ot 

 the other sections may be used to support Jaekmanii for 

 this purpose. Their flowers are even larger than those 

 of the famous blue, and they give variety of colour. 

 For instance, there are The Queen, a beautiful lavender 

 variety, and Lord Londesborough, mauve, both of the 

 patens type. These bloom in early summer, and need 

 no pruning except when they get very crowded. There 

 are Beauty of Worcester, violet, and Venus Victrix, 

 lavender, double, of the Lanuginosa section, which also 



