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THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



October, 1909 



form, but the following may be unsuitable: 

 Honeysuckles tend to make amorphous 

 masses; Dutchman's pipe has too gross a 

 leaf; bittersweet is a little commonplace in 

 leaf and wild in growth ; matrimony vine too 

 rustic. 



On rough or temporary pergolas, the 

 appropriate thing seems to be an exuberance 

 of bloom. We often cover a whole porch 

 or pergola with one kind of climber, especi- 

 ally Crimson Rambler, which is too gaudy, 

 and ought to give way to more delicate colors 

 like the pink of Dorothy Perkins. The 

 English believe that a variety of climbers is 

 usually best on a pergola, provided the whole 

 structure is well supplied with foliage, 

 because then you have ever-changing interest, 

 whereas the Crimson Rambler pergola 

 flashes for a few weeks and is gone until 

 another year. 



Another thing we must remember about 

 slender columns is not to overpower them 

 with mighty growths of wistaria or trumpet 

 creeper, which may weaken the pillars of 

 piazzas. 



Our greatest fault, however, is having 

 too little luxuriance, for a pergola without 

 vines on top is a failure and an absurdity. 

 England goes to the other extreme. Luxuri- 

 ance is too easy to get there and many of 

 their arbors are dank, close, sunless. In that 

 moist, cool climate it is not so important to 

 have shaded walks and covered ways as in a 

 hot, dry climate like ours. But in both 

 countries it is important not to have a porch 

 or arbor smothered with vines. 



The effect should always be light and airy. 

 Physical comfort alone would dictate this, 

 but it is pleasant also to see all the leaves 

 stirred by fresh air and an ever-changing 

 play of light and shade on the floor, both 

 in the daytime and moonlight. 



One of the prettiest effects I saw in Eng- 

 land is that of the Japanese wistaria 

 (W. multijuga), which has clusters two or 

 three feet long. These strings of bloom 



are so loose that they are not as showy on 

 the ordinary porch as the common or Chin- 

 ese wistaria, but when they are trained to 

 hang down from the edges of a roof they have 

 a liquid loveliness that is unsurpassed. The 

 idea is, of course, Japanese but often 

 one sees it well executed on English summer 

 houses. 



But the greatest wonder I saw in England 

 is the collection of new species of Ampelopsis 

 and Vitis from China. At Coombe Wood 

 I had a feast of color and form that I shall 

 never forget. And to American nursery- 

 men and collectors I would say, Wake up, 

 try all the new species of Ampelopsis you can 

 get. They may make a great difference 

 in the appearance of America homes and 

 gardens. 



CLIMBERS ON LIVING TREES 



Another line of effort in which England is 

 ahead of us, though still groping her way, is 

 the art of growing climbers on living trees. 



Cluster roses allowed to climb upon a pine 



Virginia Creeper in London trained so as to send 

 down long streamers — a lesson for our largest 

 cities in America 



Nature suggested this, for the woodbine 

 sometimes drapes the hawthorn tree with a 

 mantle of fragrant, purplish flowers and 

 Clematis Flammula often adorns the hedge- 

 rows in August with myriads of white stars. 

 The most famous case, however, is ivy and 

 oak. And in our own woods everyone has 

 seen wild grape throwing up its strong ropes 

 to the tops of the highest trees, and Virginia 

 creeper mounting the tallest elms. 



Whether this is the most artistic way to 

 grow climbers, as many believe, I shall not 

 attempt to decide, but certainly it is beset 

 with the greatest and most interesting dif- 

 ficulties. If the climber is too strong for the 

 tree it suggests a most unpleasant thought — 

 strangulation, murder. And this result is 

 sure to occur if wistaria or trumpet creeper 

 are planted beneath small trees. On the 

 other hand, delicate and high bred climbers 

 are likely to be starved by the roots of strong 

 trees, so as to suggest poverty and failure. 



The aesthetic dangers are also very great. 



The Japanese bittersweet is even showier than 

 our own. Its red berries are attractive throughout 

 the leafless season. 



Nature does this thing sparingly and so should 

 we. To treat a whole avenue in this style, 

 or even a majority of the trees on a lawn, 

 would expose us to ridicule. Again, I 

 think the English sometimes make a stupid 

 mistake in allowing ivy to grow on beech. 

 It is a crime to let so weedy a plant as ivy 

 kill a noble beech, but to cover the native 

 loveliness of a beech trunk with anything at 

 all is worse than a crime — it is a blunder. 

 We ought never, or rarely, to obscure the fine 

 tree architecture of birch, mountain ash or 

 flowering dogwood, or even such rough 

 customers as hickory, honey locust, and 

 sweet gum, for their ruggedness has perennial 

 charm. I should use climbers only on trees 

 that have commonplace bark. Oak, elm, 

 maple, ash, poplar, and the nuts are not 

 exactly commonplace, but you cannot de- 

 scribe their peculiarities in such a way that 

 people will be sure of them. They are a 

 safer list with which to experiment. 



The most perfect marriage I have heard of 

 between a deciduous tree and a deciduous 

 climber is that of wistaria and locust, for 

 both have pinnate foliage and flowers of the 

 pea type. If you use the white-flowered 

 wistaria, there will be a third point in com- 

 mon. This combination is beautifully 

 described by Neltje Blanchan in "The 

 American Flower Garden." 



The most famous example, however, is 

 that of climbing roses on any kind of decidu- 

 ous tree. England and California have a 

 great advantage over the North in this respect 

 for they can use larger and better varieties 

 and have fewer insect enemies to contend 

 with. 



The surest combination we can have is 

 Virginia creeper on elm, and a most appro- 

 priate one, for the leaflet of the climber 

 has practically the same shape as that of the 

 tree. But when you grow Virginia creeper 

 on pine you get a contrast of leaf forms that 

 is almost startling. And, since evergreens 



