152 FAMILIAR GARDEN FLOWERS. 



A remarkable exemplification of the splendour of the 

 hybrid clematis as bedding plants may be seen in the 

 entrance to the vast nurseries of Mr. Richard Smith, 

 St. John's, Worcester. Here, amidst the richest greenery 

 of coniferous trees, grass lawns, and banks of ivy, we 

 behold a great hemisphere of the richest violet-blue which 

 may be likened to the mighty shield of a warlike wanderer 

 from Olympus. It is a bed of Jackman's clematis trained 

 over a frame of hoops, and throughout the summer it is 

 literally solid with the resplendent flowers. To form such 

 a bed in any garden would be quite an easy matter, for the 

 chief elements are time and patience. 



