MARCH 43 



bare and twisted branches above your head and the blue 

 sky behind them. The whole effect is indeed different 

 and very superior to that of seeing the blooms hanging 

 straight and flat from branches nailed close to the wall. 

 Unless it is protected from the north and east, it is of 

 course more liable, in unfavourable springs, to have its 

 blooms injured by late frosts. The plant itself, I believe, 

 is absolutely hardy. 



The creepers I recommended to plant on a south 

 front are as follows : 



Magnolia grandiflora the roots must be pulled 

 about, not cut, and manured in the autumn for the first 

 few years after planting, to make it grow quickly ; a 

 Yellow Banksia, single if possible, but they are not easy 

 to get ; an early yellow Dutch Honeysuckle ; a Pyrus 

 japonica ; Chimonantkus fragrans, now called Calyc- 

 anthus prcecox ; a Beve d'Or Eose; a La Marque Eose 

 (no house is perfect without one) ; a few Clematises, which 

 in non-chalky soils must have chalk and lime or brick- 

 rubbish put to their roots, not manure ; Choisya ternata, 

 a low-growing shrub, wherever there is room between the 

 other plants ; a Marechal Niel Eose. Forsythia suspensa, 

 Jasminum nudiflorum, Clematis montana, and late Dutch 

 Honeysuckle will all do on the east and west sides of a 

 house as well as on the south. Two other things that 

 would grow on the south wall are Bignonia radicans and 

 Garry a elliptica, a charming evergreen with fascinating 

 catkins, which form in January. The male or pollen- 

 bearing plant is the handsomest. 



This list I actually made in the autumn, which is 

 really the best time for planting ; but there is often so 

 much to do then that planting is apt to get postponed, and 

 rather than lose a whole year, spring planting is quite 

 worth trying. In damp soils I really believe it answers 

 best. In dry soils, or where a plant is likely to be robbed 



