GREENHOUSE CLIMBING PLANTS, 
253 
"With a brief allusion to Petunias and Verbenas, we shall now dismiss this 
subject. Of the many lovely species and varieties comprising these genera, there 
are few of those which have, for the last several years, been employed in filling the 
beds of the flower-garden, but may also be made to assume a dwarf climbing habit 
by a little extra attention. We have rarely been without specimens of even 
Verbena chamoedrifolia, from three to four feet in height ; and the much more 
luxuriant species of Verbena that have recently been introduced, might be brought 
to this stature with infinitely less trouble. Plants of Petunias, of a similar size, 
are far more easily obtained ; and, when planted on a lawn of somewhat limited 
extent, their aspect is truly fascinating. 
To prepare a specimen of any suitable species of these genera for such a purpose, 
it is only necessary to plant it in a mound of light rich earth in the beginning of 
spring, and pluck off all the flower-buds immediately on their being discovered. 
This will induce a free, vigorous, and bushy growth. The practice may be con- 
tinued till its subject has attained the requisite size, or is desired to flower ; and 
when it is relinquished, the specimen will commence blooming, and flower in 
unbounded profusion till the decline of autumn. The trellises used for species of 
this description, should be of a particularly ornamental character ; since the plants 
are not to be trained over, but, contrariwise, surrounded by them, as a protection 
against tempestuous winds. If, however, the removal of the flower-buds is duly 
and timeously accomplished, the lateral shoots will soon extend themselves beyond 
the trellis, and thus divert the eye from what, however ornate, might be considered 
an uninteresting object, if too conspicuous. These remarks have no further refe- 
rence to the slow-growing or dwarf kinds of Verbena, than that, if they are wished 
to be managed thus, the same routine of active treatment must be followed. They 
will not attain a sufiicient height in one season to be regarded as climbing plants, 
and will therefore need the shelter of a greenhouse, and the especial watchfulness 
of the cultivator, to preserve their first year s growth from prejudicial dampness. 
It will be seen that the foregoing strictures embrace only the more showy 
herbaceous species of tender climbing plants. With regard to the shrubby sorts, 
there is an extremely small proportion which can with any propriety be placed in 
the open air, and if these should ever appear worthy of a distinct notice, we may 
find occasion to advert to them. All mention of several pleasing herbaceous kinds 
has necessarily been omitted from this sketch ; but we believe there are none 
which do not so closely resemble some of those here treated of, that their culture 
may not be safely regulated by the rules thus generally inculcated. 
