Round the Year in the Garden 



tracery of fragile leaf, lissom stem, and welcome blos- 

 som; while themselves attractive, they modify the 

 outlook with subtle influence, softening the lines of 

 neighbouring buildings, weaving fairy frames round 

 staring windows, toning crude bricks with mellowing 

 touch. Even prosaic roofs and chimneys may add agree- 

 able variety to the view if seen only through a curtain 

 of leafy branches, all blossom-spangled in due season. 

 Thus veiled, the unlovely corner of the world that 

 matters, as seen from the garden, is shorn of its vul- 

 garity, and revealed only in glimpses that stir the 

 imagination. 



The four walls or fences of a garden of restricted size 

 are predominant ; they exert a depressing influence and 

 seem to insist upon the futility of attempting anything 

 beyond commonplace arrangement. But there are ways 

 of transforming the aspect even of a garden in the 

 suburbs. The creation of an indefinite boundary should be 

 the chief aim of the designer. If the corners are rounded 

 off with groups of shrubs and flowers, the garden at once 

 makes some appeal, and acquires an air of mystery 

 because its full extent and the exact position of its 

 boundaries, previously exposed, are now hidden. 



The monotony of the fence-line should be broken by 

 trails of clustering Rose and Clematis. Of Roses one 

 may choose those that scarcely lose the old leaves before 

 the new ones appear, such for instance as Aimee Vibert, 

 Tea Rambler, Alberic Barbier, Hiawatha and Shower of 

 Gold. Of Clematis there are many equally prodigal of 

 leaf and profuse of blossom; they commingle good- 

 naturedly to form a fairy fence of garden beauty. If 

 some of the climbers take liberties in the matter of space, 

 gentle admonition with the pruning knife has the 

 necessary effect. The Traveller's Joy (Clematis Vitalba), 

 the Mountain Clematis (inontana), the Virgin's Bower 

 (Clematis flammula), together with Polygonum bald- 

 schuanicum (which certainly does not deserve its horrible 



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