CLIMBERS 217 



which is too gaudy, and ought to give way to more delicate colours 

 like the pink of Dorothy Perkins. The English believe that a 

 variety of climbers is usually best on a pergola, provided the whole 

 structure is well supplied with foliage, because then you have 

 ever-changing interest, whereas the Crimson Rambler pergola 

 flashes for a few weeks and is gone until another year. 



Another thing we must remember about slender columns is 

 not to overpower them with mighty growths of wistaria or trumpet 

 creeper, which may weaken the pillars of piazzas. 



Our greatest fault, however, is having too little luxuriance, 

 for a pergola without vines on top is a failure and an absurdity. 

 England goes to the other extreme. Luxuriance is too easy to get 

 there and Mr. Robinson complains that many of their arbours 

 are dank, close, sunless. In that moist, cool climate it is not so 

 important to have shaded walks and covered ways as in a hot, dry 

 climate like ours. But in both countries it is important not to 

 have a porch or arbour smothered with vines. The effect 

 should always be light and airy. Physical comfort alone would 

 dictate this, but it is pleasant also to see all the leaves stirred by 

 fresh air and an ever-changing play of light and shade on the floor, 

 both in the daytime and moonlight. 



One of the prettiest effects I saw in England is that of the 

 Japanese wistaria (W. multijuga), which has clusters two or three 

 feet long. These strings of bloom are so loose that they are not as 

 showy on the ordinary porch as the common or Chinese wistaria, 

 but when they are trained to hang down from the edges of a roof 

 they have a liquid loveliness that is unsurpassed. The idea is, of 

 course, Japanese but often one sees it well executed on English 

 summer houses. 



But the greatest wonder I saw in England is the collection of 



