October , 1909 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



129 



are usually narrow-leaved, while climbers are 

 usually broad-leaved, we should feel our way 

 more cautiously before training climbers 

 upon conifers. 



CLIMBERS ON EVERGREEN TREES 



The English often allow ivy to grow up 

 Scotch pine and Norway spruce, but this 

 seems to me altogether too strong a contrast 

 in form and texture. And there is an even 

 greater danger — the danger of destroying 

 the symmetry of an evergreen tree. How 

 foolish it would be to grow any climber on 

 Colorado spruce or concolor fir! For a 

 lost branch can never be replaced, and 

 therefore the whole game is to keep 

 evergreens symmetrical as long a time as 

 possible. 



On the other hand some of the evergreens 

 we plant the most are the first to lose their 

 symmetry, e. g., Scotch and Austrian pine, 

 Norway spruce, silver fir, red cedar, and 

 arborvitae. English conifers, as a rule, look 

 happy; ours do not. They soon get thin 

 and ragged. Why should we not conceal the 

 defects of these thin trees that have lost their 

 lower branches? 



What does Nature do? She sometimes 

 throws a veil of wild clematis over pitch 

 pine, and on Long Island, Mr. Hicks tells 

 me, she sends scarlet honeysuckle up the red 

 cedars. In Japan, she trains wistarias 

 on her giant pines. 



In English gardens I saw a very good effect 

 from wistaria on yew. Our equivalent for 

 the latter is hemlock. At Gravetye I saw 

 Mr. Robinson's famous combination — 

 clematis on yew. And there, I believe, 

 is the principle that should guide us. If we 

 grow climbers upon conifers, let us choose 

 what Mr. Robinson calls the "lace workers," 

 not the kinds with big, showy flowers. 

 Jackman's clematis would doubtless be a 

 failure in everyway. What we want is fleecy 

 clouds of small white flowers, such as we can 

 get from Clematis paniculata and Virginiana. 

 There are also two climbing hydrangeas, 

 one of which I have seen at Dosoris on a tree 

 trunk. 



A combination suggested by Miss Duncan 

 sounds most artistic,viz., wistaria and trumpet 

 creeper on the same tree. They supplement 

 each other in time of bloom and give a com- 

 plete change of color, but both have similar, 

 pinnate leaves. 



We often make the mistake of planting a 

 climber near the trunk of the tree. It is 

 better, both from the cultural and pictorial 

 points of view, to plant them ten or twelve 

 feet away and train them on inclined poles 

 until they reach the lower limbs. Then you 

 get the effect of lianas in the tropical forest 

 or of wild grape in our own woods. 



CLIMBERS ON EVERGREEN SHRUBS 



But the climax of delicate beauty in this 

 line of work is to throw a veil over the ever- 

 green shrubs. The one thing that every 

 Englishman yearns to do, and cannot, is to 

 grow the flame flower on holly. By flame 

 flower, I mean Tropceolum speciosum, that 

 gorgeous scarlet nasturtium which glorifies 

 the humblest cottage in Scotland and strikes 



every summer visitor to the Highlands with 

 amazement. It perfectly suits the Scotch 

 character, for the flower has the strength 

 of the national war hymn, while the foliage 

 is as delicate and tender as "Annie Laurie." 

 Even England is not cool and moist enough 

 for the flame flower, so you can imagine with 

 what pride the author of "Potpourri in a 

 Surrey Garden" showed me this nasturtium 

 on her own holly. 



Possibly we might do something of the 

 sort with ordinary nasturtiums on rhodo- 

 dendrons or mountain laurel, but I fear it 

 would be very tame by comparison, and the 

 seeds would of course have to be sown 

 every year, as the plant is an annual, while 

 the flame flower is perennial. 



It would be folly to trust our precious 

 rhododendrons and laurel to any strangling 

 honeysuckles or other rampant vines. The 

 ideal vine for the purpose should look fragile 

 and be hardy. The only ones that I think 

 of that answers all the requirements is 

 Clematis paniculata. Ever our own wild 

 clematis is a bit untidy in fruit. I would 

 rather use it on deciduous shrubs, as many 

 do. The two species recommended by 

 Mr. Robinson are Clematis Viticella and 

 alpina, but whether they would do well here 

 remains to be seen. 



EFFECTS WE CANNOT HAVE 



The South and the Pacific Coast can rival 

 England in luxuriance and variety, but the 

 North cannot. In New England ivy must 

 be covered in winter or else grown on the 

 ground. East of the Rockies we shall never 

 have climbing roses growing up to the third 

 story of a house and producing large, double 

 flowers all summer. The great wonder- 

 working genus Clematis is only partially 

 available to us. England can grow any- 

 thing which the North can and a great deal 



more. That is not strictly true, but it is 

 exasperatingly near the truth. 



WAIT THREE HUNDRED YEARS 



It will be three centuries, at least, before 

 America as a whole .can be as beautiful as 

 England. For, first, we must build our 

 houses of permanent materials, next evolve 

 a national style of architecture and finally 

 clothe our houses with the most appro- 

 priate vines. 



Before we can grow the great variety of 

 climbers that England does, we may have to 

 build thousands of miles of high garden walls 

 of brick and stone. But certainly we must 

 plant Virginia creeper and Japan ivy by 

 the million, especially in great cities, where 

 no ugly wall should be left uncovered. And 

 we must make every house beautiful the year 

 round by growing on it evergreen climbers, 

 especially ivy and euonymus, which must be 

 planted by the million. 



But while the nation has long to wait, 

 let no one be discouraged. The individual 

 here can achieve during his own life time as 

 much garden beauty as the individual in 

 England. Americans are not deficient in 

 originality and we may exercise that gift in 

 devising different ways of training climbers — 

 streamers, garlands, arches, wreaths, clouds, 

 veils, bowers, arbors, pergolas, and covered 

 ways. Moreover, the most progressive 

 communities, in many cases, have been the 

 ones that had the greatest natural difficulties 

 to overcome. 



It will be a long and hard job to find every 

 plant that fits the climate of the northern 

 United States, but the longer our minds 

 dwell upon questions of fitness the greater 

 progress we shall make. And when at last 

 we develope an American style of gardening, 

 I believe the climbers will play an important 

 part therein. 



English ivy does not smother a brick house but it must never be grown on wood. 



evergreen climber in the -world 



