CLIMBERS WALL PLANTS AND PERGOLAS. 



39 



KeiTia japonica.— Although this may be grown as a 

 bush, and the planl is quite hardy, it must be included 

 amongst shrubby wall plants, because so frequently 

 planted in iliis position. The double variety is more 

 commonly planted than the type, and its large orange- 

 yellow flowers are as gay as anything in the garden 

 dining early spring. Many a cottage is almost wreathed 

 with this bright, hard)- climber. The type has smaller 

 single flowers, yellow, and produced profusely. It is 

 a very pretty shrub, and worth planting in a mass on 

 the lawn outskirts. There is a variegated leaved 

 variety of it. 



LathyrilS. This family is chiefly known by the Ever- 

 lasting Pea (L. latifolius), which may be increased by 

 division, seeds, or cuttings. As simple as any way is by 

 seeds, which germinate readily in earlv summer out of 

 doors ; but as the white variety does not always come true 

 from seed, this should be propagated bv cuttings taken 

 from the base of the plant as new growth commences 

 in spring. These growths at the base, if taken off with 

 a heel, and put into pots and given a brisk bottom heat, 

 will soon strike. Seeds, unfortunately, are not borne with 

 much freedom. All the Everlasting Peas are useful for 

 cutting, especially the pure white variety. Besides the 

 familiar kind known as L. latifolius, which is the Ever- 

 lasting Pea seen so frequently in collage gardens, there 

 are other kinds of much beauty. Grandiflorus is 

 very handsome, with much larger flowers, and another 

 beautiful kind is L. splendens, which, unfortunately, 

 does not seem to be very hardy. It is a native of 

 California, but perhaps it will prove hardier than many- 

 suppose. At any rate, it should have a warm sunny 

 position. The flowers are very bright, a crimson-scarlet 

 colour, and if the plant is found quite hardy it may 

 be considered a good garden Pea. L. Sibthorpi and 

 others are not for the general 

 garden. The Orobus were 

 at one time considered quite 

 apart, but they are now 

 grouped with the Lathyrus. 

 A charming kind is O. 

 vermis, of which there is a 

 white variety named Alba. 

 In a warm border it flowers 

 well, and O. cyaneus is 

 pretty also. 



Passion-flowers are beau- 

 tiful wall plants, as one 

 need scarcely remark, but 

 they must have a south 

 aspect to be safe during the 

 winter. No kind is more 

 cherished than the blue 

 Passiflora caerulea ; its dis- 

 tinct colouring and graceful 

 growth compel admiration. 

 It grows quickly, flinging its 

 slender shoots over anything 

 near to it, and in the autumn 

 the big yellow fruits hang 

 like ripe apricots amongst 

 the leafy shoots. It should 

 be planted in the spring in 

 a warm rich soil, but some 

 gardeners plant it in autumn. 

 Constance Elliot is a white 

 variety, even more tender 

 than the parent. 



Roses. The Rose is, of 

 course, queen of climbing plant 

 devoted especially to the flower. 



Solanums. Amongst climbing plants for the warmer 

 Southern Counties of England must be named S. jasmi- 

 noides and S. crispum. The former is a familiar sight in 

 Devonshire, the white flower clusters wreathing many 

 a house front and cottage in beauty, but it is only in 

 favoured climes that such robust growth is obtained, 

 ll must have a light warm soil and sunshine. Where 



PASSION-FLOWER, 



but a chapter will be 



the climate is too i old for it oul of doors, it is sufficiently 

 beautiful for the greenhouse. ll flowers over a long 

 season. S. crispum, known by its handsome blue-purple 

 flowers, is also tender, but when in vigour is very attrac- 

 tive. Grow it against a wall, and il in the event of a hard 

 winter the sho. its are cut back, the plant generally recovers. 



Vines are beautiful ( limbers. One need not praise them, 

 as the graceful growth and autumn tints of the N ine- 

 are familiar to almost everyone. China, Japan, and 

 America have given us many handsome kinds. The 

 following are the most valuable, and may be used in 

 many ways — over pergolas, arbours, trellises, and 

 against the house. Many know the charming picture 

 produced by some greenhouse Grape against a cottage 

 wall, a Black Hamburgh, Gros Colman, or other 

 kind grown for the sake of its fruit only. The Vines 

 add rich beaut)- to the autumn garden, the foliage 

 changing to brilliant hues — crimson, yellow, and bjronzy 

 green — which are retained into November days. 



VitiS CoigTietise. — A noble Vine, which came to us 

 from lapan a few years ago, and has added an addi- 

 tional note of colour to the autumn garden. It is 

 fortunately very strong in growth, and has leaves no less 

 than I ft. across when fully developed, and of rich 

 colouring, varying from crimson to bronzy crimson, 

 all rich and effective. It should be planted freely against 

 pergolas, over arches, anywhere indeed where colour 

 and handsome growth are desired, even over tree stumps 

 in the n Higher, wilder parts. The ( '< minn >n Vine, V. vinifera, 

 has yellowish leaves in autumn, which are welcome for 

 their variety, but forms of this are very beautiful, such 

 as the claret-coloured Teinturier, Miller's Burgundy, and 

 the purple-leaved Purpurea. Vines of several varieties 

 should be grown, as they are, in their rich autumn 

 colouring, as beautiful as any flower. 



V. Labrusea, or the 



Northern Fox Grape, is a 

 brilliantly coloured kind, its 

 leaves changing to crimson 

 tints in autumn. Other 

 good kinds are V. Thun- 

 bergi, which is rich red in 

 autumn, a beautiful Vine, 

 V. aestivalis, V. californica, 

 V. cordifolia, and V. 

 vulpina. Of course, colour- 

 ing varies in depth accord- 

 ing to the year ; sometimes 

 the leaves change little, but 

 generally every shoot glows 

 with colour. One kind, 

 the Hop-leaved Vine (V. 

 heterophylla humuli folia), 

 bears beautiful turquoise- 

 coloured berries. It de- 

 serves a warm wall for this 

 reason, and if one desires a 

 variegated variety, the 

 leaves of a form of this are 

 mottled with pink and 

 white ; but few care for these 

 variegated-leaved climbers. 

 They have an objectionable 

 spotty look. 

 Wistarias. — The common 

 Wistaria is W. sinensis, 

 the lav e n d e r f 1 o w e r 

 r a c ernes hanging i n 

 profusion from the 

 still leafless branches. A wall covered with Wistaria is a 

 fair sight, as no climber is of more tender and beautiful 

 colour. There are other kinds, one with white flowers 

 named Alba, but there is none better and freer than 

 the type. W. frutescens and W. multijuga are hardy 

 kinds of considerable merit, but first plant the most 

 charming of all, W. sinensis, which may be used 'o adorn 

 arbours, summer-houses, pergolas, trellises, w alls, anil the 

 like, giving it a warm soil and sunny position. 



