CLIMBERS 



67 



white, and W. A. Richardson, apricot, a collection 

 varied enough to fill the heads of fifty Hawthorns with 

 Roses. 



Smi/ax. — S. aspera is a hardy trailer and not in any way 

 related to the plant usually known by that name, so 

 much in request for table decoration, which is not a 

 Smilax at all. Its stems are prickly, and its dark-green 

 leaves, of great substance, are narrow and sometimes 

 spotted with white. It will reach a height of ten feet, 

 and may be employed in covering a tree-stump or old 

 root in a sunny position. It has small, white, fragrant 

 flowers. 



Tropaolum. — T. speciosum, the Flame Nasturtium, is the 

 tallest grower of this race, mounting to a height of 

 twenty feet. It is best planted in a position where it 

 is shaded for a few feet of its growth, except in the 

 north of England and Scotland, where it grows like a 

 weed. It is an excellent subject for planting beneath 

 evergreens, its slender shoots creeping up the branches 

 and emerging over and along them into the sunlight 

 where the flowers are produced. Gorgeous pictures 

 are created when the dark foliage of Yew or Rhododen- 

 dron blazes with the overlying vermilion of this brilliant 

 Tropaeolum. It should be planted in a porous compost 

 of leaf-mould or peat and sand. T. tuberosum has hand- 

 some orange and scarlet flowers carried clear of the 

 foliage on long stalks. It climbs to a height of ten or 

 twelve feet, and should be planted in a sunny spot. 

 There are early and late flowering forms, the first 

 blooming in July and August, and the last in mid- 

 October. Only the early flowering variety is valuable. 

 T. pentaphyllum grows to a height of about six feet, and 

 bears long, Indian-red flowers. T. polyphyllum produces 

 bright yellow flowers, and is best used as a ground 

 trailer over rocks or on a steep bank. Its growths rarely 

 exceed three feet in length. 



