136 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



[September, 



ORNAMENTAL CLIMBING VINES. 



Climbers or Creepers should pertain to 

 every home. There should be no dwelling- 

 place, however small and humble, but a 

 climbing vine should twine about and soften 

 its main angles and projections. In view of 

 this important consideration, let us examine 

 briefly the manner in which such vines are 

 used in a good instance of a well-adorned 

 country home. 



We will first enter our lawn or garden- 

 spot in June, as the month during which 

 more varieties of Climbers can be seen in 

 bloom than at any other time. 



To-day our attention is drawn to a lovely 

 Wistaria twining along just under the eaves 

 of the porch or piazza. This is the true way 

 to train a Wistaria. Let it run away up in 

 the eaves, and don't encourage side-shoots 

 below much during any part of the season. 

 It may take several years to get your Wis- 

 taria started, but do not despair at the delay, 

 because when it does once start it will grow 

 very rapidly. The Wistaria should be always 

 trained, as we see it here, on a wire beneath 

 the edge of the porch roof, so as to fringe 

 the whole length with its pendent clusters 

 of exquisite flowers. You can have purple 

 or white Wistarias, and larger and smaller 

 clusters, according as you may select one or 

 other of the different varieties received from 

 China and Japan, and the season may be 

 further prolonged by using the late blooming 

 American species, W. magnified. 



In looking about the well-planted door- 

 yard before us, we do not expect to be able 

 to consider all the attractive varieties rep- 

 resented ; but Roses and Honeysuckles, it 

 would be at once allowed, must be treated 

 with attention. Examine the arrangement 

 of the wires on which most of the vines are 

 trained. It is, you remember, absolutely 

 necessary to have an arrangement of wires 

 for your vines to run on, if you desire to 

 avoid endless bother when you undertake to 

 paint your house and train your Climbers in 

 any satisfactory manner. In this case, you 

 will notice the wires are nailed across the 

 angles formed by the columns and roofs of 

 the porch, forming a kind of gothic arch or 

 window, through which one looks from the 

 house. The Climbing Roses used are Balti- 

 more Belle, white, and Queen of the Prairies, 

 blush color, and when you have these two 

 kinds you have the best of Climbing Roses. 

 Both of these varieties climb readily and 

 vigorously to the roof, and bear an abun- 

 dance of flowers. Their weak point is their 

 foliage, which suffers from insects, like the 

 foliage of all Roses except Ilosa rugosa. 



Climbing Roses need sharp and persistent 

 pruning every spring, and some guiding 

 through the summer, to spread their foliage 

 equally and develop abundant bloom. 



On the whole, I think Honeysuckles are 

 more satisfactory as Climbers than Roses, 

 most satisfactory, perhaps, of all climbers. 

 They are so hardy, close-growing, and per- 

 sistent in retaining their foliage into very 

 winter ; and then no other climber can sur- 

 pass them in sweetness of odor and ability 

 to thrive under the most adverse conditions 

 of soil and climate. They are also equally 

 admirable as Creepers, and you will find no 



plants more thoroughly successful and effect- 

 ive in sterile shady spots, such as you see in 

 this garden we are looking at, where, in a 

 neglected corner, behind an arbor, the ever- 

 green Honeysuckle, Lonicera sinensis, has 

 heaped up, where the hardiest grass would 

 fail, graceful masses of foliage under the 

 dense shade of a large Norway Spruce. The 

 several white, variegated, yellow, and pink 

 colors of the different varieties of Honey- 

 suckles in turn, bloom all summer, and min- 

 gle well with other Climbers. 



Here you see a Virginia Creeper has been 

 used with the Honeysuckles. With what 

 strong effect the rich and vigorous leaves of 

 this Ampelopsis pile one upon another, like 

 overlapping shingles of green. No vine 

 grows into a mass more rapidly than this 

 one, nor covers more effectively a wall, a 

 stump, or even a heap of stones. On a wall 

 or trellis it should, as well as the Honey- 

 suckles, be pruned back severely in early 

 spring, so as to evenly distribute the foliage. 

 On an open piazza it may be trained along 

 the eaves like the Wistaria, and made to 

 produce, in a year or two, lovely trailing 

 garlands of foliage, which, swaying in the 

 breeze, and adorned with black berries and 

 autumn tints of crimson, are very attractive. 



The Trumpet Creeper, Tecoma radiccms, 

 crimson, and grandifiora, orange-colored, 

 growing in this garden over an old stump, 

 make valuable features in their full bloom 

 in August. Their habit of growth is some- 

 what coarse and untractable, which unfits 

 them for training on walls and arrangements 

 of wire. Then there are the modest but 

 charming Alcebia quinata, with its neat, curi- 

 ously-shaped dark green foliage, and the 

 bold, broad leaves of the Dutchman's Pipe, 

 Aristolochia Sipho. 



But most exquisite of all are these charm- 

 ing Clematises, trained here on a wall of 

 lattice-work. All summer, one or other of 

 them is in bloom, and if the June flowering ! 

 ones, especially Jackmanni, are pruned just 

 after they flower immediately at the base of 

 the faded flower cluster, another season of 

 bloom can be secured in early autumn. No I 

 other class of plants can be used so effect- 

 ively for various purposes. They may be 

 twined on poles, used for covering trellises, 

 forming beautiful and excellent screens, or 

 may be trained low to cover beds in lawns. 

 The new C. coceinea, which is just being in- 

 troduced, is a most attractive species. 



We have said nothing of the time-honored 

 English Ivy, because Ivies do not thrive well 

 on the walls in America north of Washing- 

 ton, D. C, or perhaps Norfolk, Va. By a 

 little protection, however, in even northern 

 New England, Ivies can be used in the form 

 of carpets or beds over the ground, and very 

 charming they are, used in this manner. 



To secure a really good climber with root- 

 lets that cling closely to brick and stone walls, 

 we must turn to the so-called Japan Ivy, Am- 

 pelopsis I'eiteMi or trieuspidatu. Except that 

 it is not evergreen, this charming Climber 

 need yield in no way when compared with 

 the best of Ivies. The sheen and richness 

 of its green, the decorative forms of its 

 leaves, and the perfect way in which they 

 lap over each other and cling to brick, stone, 

 j and woodwork, makes its value unique. 



Most of the climbers mentioned in these 

 brief remarks may be planted with perfect 

 safety in autumn, as well as in spring. 



S. Parsons, Jr. 



AND GREENHOUSE. 



ARRANGEMENT OF FLOWERS. 



The effect of large flowers is generally 

 spoiled by an intermixture of little, tiny 

 flowers of other kinds. A buuch of Gladi- 

 olus, for instance, loosely arranged, cannot 

 be improved by additional flowers, or by an 

 attempt to tone down its blaze of color with 

 leaves of other plants. 



However, it becomes often desirable to 

 group together a number of different flowers, 

 so as to be as compact as possible, and still 

 produce an artistic effect — that is, to make a 

 bouquet. To some persons bouquet-making 

 comes so natural that their artistic taste 

 affords them a better guide than any rules 

 that can be laid down ; but to those less 

 fortunate the following directions, given in 

 the London Garden, may be of value : 



Take first a mass of white, it may be a 

 truss of white Geranium, a double-white 

 Stock, or a Clematis — or, for a small bou- 

 quet, a bunch of the small double Pyre- 

 thrum ; then scarlet, which, to an artist, 

 means orange, as, for instance, a double 

 scarlet Geranium, Tom Thumb Nasturtium, 

 or any brilliant orange, though that color is 

 not so abundant as it ought to be. Put any 

 of these next the white, on one side of it ; 

 then take red, a bright rose — and the 

 brighter the red the nearer it should be to 

 the white, so that other duller reds may be 

 beyond it. By red is meant all colors of 

 crimson ; but red is the true designation. 

 Place these on the other side of the white. 

 Some very dark, almost black, flower may 

 be also brought near the white, but only a 

 very little of that color ; and beyond the 

 scarlet a very little bit of blue, such as that 

 of an Emperor William Pansy or a little 

 sprig of Lobelia. Beyond the red have pur- 

 ple and yellow brought together, and on the 

 other side Pieotees, which, although rich in 

 color, are not prominent, though any flow- 

 ers that have broken colors will do. Beyond 

 these again bring in blue in some mass, and 

 your taller flowers, as Pentstemons (the blue 

 kind makes an admirable background), dark- 

 colored Fuchsias, some flowers, or leaves of 

 a brownish hue, should interpose beyond the 

 blue, and the last to introduce should be the 

 Maiden-hair Fern, which certainly makes at 

 all times a very pretty background. 



Make this bouquet up in your hand, and 

 avoid too much formality, as the colors will 

 generally arrange themselves with sufficient 

 effect and force, though they may intermix 

 a little. A bouquet has generally one view, 

 in which case it should slope gently up- 

 ward ; then the white should come near the 

 bottom. If it is to be seen all round, the 

 white should be in the center, with the 

 above arrangement of colors in masses 

 round the white. When your bouquet is 

 large enough, tie it round in the middle of 

 the stems, cut them off evenly, and drop it 

 in a vase of water. 



Two principles may be followed in making 

 up a bouquet — one, harmony and contrast 

 of color ; the other, force of light and shade. 

 Whichever is chosen to begin with, pure 

 white is absolutely necessary ; even if only 

 composed of a single white flower, it should 

 be the largest mass of the whole. 



