EVERY WOMAN HER OWN FLOWER GARDENER. 65 



its flowers are of the most delicious fragrance, and there is no hardy 

 vine that can excel it ; its leaves are evergreen, and very glossy. 



The Clematis are rapid growers, the native varieties flowering in 

 August when other vines are not always in beauty. Great improvements 

 have been made in them by the English florists, and there are no love- 

 lier vines for piazzas and verandahs. The following are the most 

 prominent of the cultivated varieties, flowering from June onward : 



Clematis Fortuni has very large, double-white flowers. 



Clematis Jackmanii is a profuse bloomer, with large, violet-colored 

 blossoms. 



Clematis Standishii is blue, and flowers finely. 



Clematis Rubella has rich purple blossoms. 



All of these varieties are new hybrids, and cannot fail to give satis- 

 faction to the cultivator. 



Hedera helix (or English Ivy), is the most popular of evergreen vines, 

 and very suitable for covering rock work, fences, walls, trees or arbors. 

 It adheres readily to a tree or to stone, but does not take as kindly to 

 brick, requiring some slight support, frequently to keep it attached to 

 the walls. It is much used for covering houses, but in climates where 

 it will live throughout the year it is unequaled for a bordering to flower 

 beds. Grass will force its tiny roots into the borders, but the Ivy is 

 contented to twine its branches along the edges. A quantity of strong 

 young plants are desirable to commence with, and they should be planted 

 rather thickly and kept well mingled together. In the Summer, their 

 fresh green leaves contrast perfectly with the darker foliage, and all 

 through the winter their verdure is pleasing. Such edgings form a 

 beautiful setting for flowers, while they are so charming as to make it 

 desirable to cultivate the " dainty plant" for its own worth. 



After the edging has once become established, by pinching off and 

 cutting back the young shoots, it can be easily kept in perfect order. 

 Nearly every courtyard in Paris displays the English Ivy, either cover- 

 ing trellises as a dark background to brilliant thickets of Geraniums, or 

 trained over a bower. 



The plants are grown in large boxes, filled with a rich turfy soil, and 

 thus supplied they make rapid growth. At the French Exposition, the 

 garden was filled with all that was richest and rarest, yet Mr. Robinson 

 tells us, in his book upon " French Gardens," that a pretty circular 

 bower covered with Ivy attracted first the attention of every passer-by. 

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