GARDENS NEAR THE SEA 



slender grace and hung with large bell-shaped, purple 

 flowers, makes an astoundingly rapid growth during 

 its first season. To accelerate this characteristic, the 

 seeds should be started early in a hot bed or in 

 the house. This is one of the vines much used on 

 newly built pergolas. 



The gourds are a remarkable family of climbing 

 annuals particularly noticeable on account of the many 

 and curious forms taken by their fruit. The calabash, 

 bearing dipper-shaped fruit, is a well-known member, 

 also the Chinese loofa, or sponge gourd, so called from 

 the fibrous network of the interior of the fruit. This 

 substance when dried has a recognized use, like the 

 sponge. Most of the gourds appear best on fences 

 or arbors. They are too pronounced in growth to 

 mingle with other vines. 



June is undoubtedly the month of months in which 

 to enjoy the bloom of climbing vines. It then seems 

 as if they could keep their buds closed no longer, as 

 if they craved to give the delight of flowers as well as 

 the peculiar benefits of their supple stems and dense 

 foliage. Sometimes this June outburst is preceded 

 by the upholding of the wistarias in May, although 

 in places of harsh climate or when the season is back- 

 ward, they wait until June before putting forth their 

 flowers. 



For many years in this country, the wistaria has 

 been the vine par excellence for the veranda. Its long, 

 graceful bunches of delicate purple flowers are familiar 

 to every one, although it is only by examining them 

 closely that one can realize their exquisite formation 



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