CHAPTER XVII 



Climbing plants 



Clematis — Vines — Honeysuckle — Smilax — Growth of 

 climbing plants. 



Climbing shrubs, when properly used, are great helps 

 in a mixed garden, and I often wonder that they are 

 not more used, but they really are very seldom seen, 

 except when trained to walls. But, in speaking of 

 climbing plants, I do not mean such as are trained and 

 nailed to walls, but such as are allowed to climb more 

 or less by their own unassisted powers over arches, 

 poles, or some other support ; and I mean to speak of 

 hardy perennial climbers only, and so exclude annual 

 and tender plants, though there are many such that 

 are very beautiful and useful. 



First and chief among such climbers comes the 

 clematis. The name originally meant merely a branch 

 of a vine, but afterwards was extended as a name for 

 almost all climbing plants. Pliny included several 

 such under the name ; Gerard says that clematis is ' a 



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