A GARDENING CHART 



465 



CLIMBERS OF QUICK GROWTH 



Annual Climbers. The small garden, and for that matter the larger ones too, would 

 suffer if the annual climbers were not available. The Canary Creeper (Tropcsolum can- 

 ariense], which will cover a pole or hide a stretch of fence in a single season, is one of the 

 most useful kinds, and there is fresh beauty in its green leaves and bright yellow flowers. 

 The Japanese Hop is a climber of wonderful growth. It is irresistible, covering a pergola 

 or summer-house even in a few weeks. Its variegated variety is pretty and distinct. 

 Sweet Peas will hide a fence or scramble over some ugly spot, not of great height ; and 

 amongst other climbers are the popular climbing Nasturtiums or Tropaeolums, varieties 

 of T. lobbianum, and the bright-coloured, always welcome Convolvulus minor and major. 

 A very pretty red and yellowish tender annual is Mina lobata, but it is not always a suc- 

 cess, requiring a very warm spot and thoroughly well drained soil. The seeds of this must 

 be sown in heat in spring, and the same may be written of Thunbergia alata. Mr. 

 Greenwood Pirn, a sincere lover of flowers, writes of the Thunbergia that, "though in 

 cultivation for three-quarters of a century, it is not so often seen as its merits deserve." 

 It belongs to the order Acanthaceae, and is a very slender, twining plant, practically an 

 annual, though, under favourable circumstances, perennial. It occurs commonly in six 

 varieties white, light buff, and light orange, each with a self-coloured throat, and the 

 same series with a purple-black throat, from which it sometimes gets the name of Black- 

 eyed Susan. It is extremely easily grown, and will do in the stove, greenhouse, or, after 

 a fashion, outside, but an airy greenhouse seems to suit it best. Sown in January, it will 

 flower all the summer with ordinary care, but look out for red spider. If the cultivator 

 possess a microscope, the hairs on the stamens will repay examination. The plant is a 

 native of the East. 



Annual Grasses. Many of these are of delicate beauty; they may be raised from 

 seed sown in spring in the open ground. A good selection would comprise : Agrostis 

 pulchella, a beautiful small grass ; A. nebulosa, and the popular fluffy Hair-tail Grass 

 (Lagurus ovatus], which should be chosen first, because of its distinctness. Also beauti- 

 ful are the large Quaking Grass (Briza maxima], B. minima, which is smaller, hence 



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