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NEGLECTED BEAUTIES. “fr 
a) 
Sometimes a single plant will attract great attention on account of the dense masses of flowers with which 
it is covered. The most common and perhaps the most desirable species are the A- multiflorus, just 
alluded to, generally abounding in white flowers; the A. grandiflorus, where the flowers are somewhat 
larger and usually purple, with a yellow eye; and the A. cyaneus, with lanceolate leaves and large blue 
flowers; this last is perhaps the handsomest of all the Asters. It is clear that these plants may be easily 
cultivated here in their native habitat, when so many have been cultivated in Europe as exotics. They 
will grow in any soil, providing it is artificially or naturally kept moist. Some species grow too large for 
indoor culture, but the smallest plants of the A. multiflora would certainly prove very delightful house 
plants, as their mild fragrance, abundant bloom and comparative indifference to attention could not fail to 
give satisfaction. 
The wild plants here selected will constitute a nice collection in themselves, and have 
been chosen because of their general excellence, and also because they will supply a 
continuous bloom, in about the order in which they have been named, from early spring 
until early frost. But time and space would fail us to enumerate half the beautiful wild 
plants that adorn our woods, prairies, mountain slopes and shaded valleys, and the little 
that has been said is rather by way of suggestion than elaborate treatment. 
2 doorway, over a mantelpiece, or to entwine a picture, is so great that 
it is difficult to make a choice. And even in our northern latitudes 
anybody who is rich enough to afford a fire during the night may 
indulge in a choice climbing plant. The investment of a few cents in such 
seeds will furnish, with little care, a beautiful framework of foliage and flowers 
for a whole winter. The wealthy may indulge in an endless variety of pretty 
climbers, native and exotic, but every one may have one or more of the native 
kinds, which scarcely fall behind the more expensive imported beauties. Some 
are cultivated for the richness and abundance of their foliage, which is, moreover, 
in a few varieties, remarkably variegated; others for their curiously-shaped flowers — 
like a bell, finger, or trumpet— which are also often strikingly marked in various colors. 
There is a pleasure in daily watching a plant climb, creep, or twine itself around the 
things near it. The rapid growth of many of them is truly wonderful, some making no 
less than six inches in a single day. The seeming intelligence with which they appear to 
feel and reach out for supports is one of the most striking phenomena of plant life. The 
adjusted proportion with which they push out a flower here and a bunch of leaves there, 
is truly artistic, being carried on under the guidance of that greatest of all artists, Mother 
Nature. 
The whole collection here loosely designated Climbing Plants, may more properly be 
divided into Climbing, Twining, Creeping and Trailing Plants, from each of which | 
classes a few choice examples are subjoined. 
393 : 
wal (2a er BR 
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