2 THE BOOK OF CLIMBING PLANTS 



the bushes or clamber up the trees of brighter lands. 

 These tropical plants are with us the inmates of our 

 greenhouses and stoves, and it is under glass that we 

 can see their beauties and enjoy their delights. From 

 more temperate climes, however, we can draw the 

 climbing plants which will decorate our gardens and our 

 walls, and which are as hardy, or nearly so, as our 

 native plants which we can see in the woods and lanes 

 of the country side. 



It seems unnecessary to speak at length of the value 

 of the climbing plants in our gardens and pleasure 

 grounds. They are equally ornamental on the walls and 

 terraces of the stately mansion, and on the humblest 

 cottage, over whose low roof a mantle of Rose or 

 Clematis sheds such a transforming cloud of beauty. 

 They grace the garden walls, and take from stiff 

 and hard lines their ugliness by fresh foliage, pretty 

 flowers, and often pleasing fruit. The trellis may 

 be draped with them. Over the garden paths they 

 may depend from the archways, or the pergola may be 

 their resting-place with its cloistered aisles overhung 

 and shaded from the strong sunshine by their green 

 leaves, which often look so lovely between one and 

 the light, and decked by the blooms dangling from 

 pliant stems or in clouds up the pillars. Then the 

 arbour is both shaded and beautified by these plants, 

 and they may be more widely used than they have been 

 to give variety to the wilder parts of the grounds. A 

 glen or a stream side may have its beauties heightened 

 by planting alongside the native shrubs and trees some 

 of the exotic climbers, which give grace and brightness 

 and form a charming feature. 



Then, too, what is a greenhouse, a stove, or a con- 

 servatory without a climber about it, to cover its walls, 

 hang from the rafters or roof, or cover its bare pillars ? 

 It is a poor greenhouse indeed, which has not room for 



