206 
PARK AND CEMETERY 
IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATIONS 
CONDUCTED BY 
FRANCES COPLEY SEAVEY, 
- 
CONSIDER THE VINES, 
There is usually a necessity, or at least a strong 
desire to secure immediate effects in the planting done 
b> improvement organizations. Nothing produces re- 
sults so quickly and surely as vines. This is true both 
of hardy and of tender climbing plants. They make 
more show in a limited time than any other class of 
vegetation. 
While few may hope to attain the luxuriance of 
foliage shown by the accompanying illustration of a 
California home, it can be more nearly approached 
with vines than in any other sort of planting compe- 
tition with the people of that fair land. 
Even in the regions of “No.vember fog and De- 
cember snow” there are vines that will thrive in every 
situation and location, and they are the salvation of the 
planter who must show immediate results. He must, 
however, work out that salvation with knowledge and 
skill, for while, like Topsy, “nobody made them and 
they just growed,” still, attractive and speedy success 
with vines is only achieved by well directed effort. 
The second vine example shown herewith is a fair 
illustration of what may be done in one season in a 
northern climate. Most of the material used in giving 
this commonplace dwelling a homelike air are plants 
that make their entire growth in one season, being 
killed outright, root, branch and tubers, by freezing. 
The only hardy vines recognizable in the Dayton 
photograph are a Clematis (apparently C. Virginiana, 
the small-flowered native variety), climbing a wire 
netting seen at the right in the picture, and a honey- 
suckle (probably Hall’s) twining around the farther 
post of the balcony. 
Two tender vines furnish the bulk of the graceful 
garlands which do so much to redeem the place from 
the ordinary aspect of this class of dwellings. They 
are Madeira vines, grown from inexpensive tubers 
that may be bought from almost any florist or plants- 
man, and which in good ground will not only furnish 
excellent returns in growth above ground but will 
also produce a tenfold harvest of new tubers that may 
be easily preserved for the next season’s planting; and 
Cypress vines, which are grown from seeds sown in 
the spring where they are to remain — the seeds being 
soaked in warm water for twenty-four hours before 
they are sown. 
The feathery mass that wreaths the division fence 
and is carried up the near corner of the balcony shows 
the character of the cypress vine quite clearly. A pho- 
tograph can, however, only suggest the agreeable color 
harmony furnished by the juxtaposition of these two 
plants, although the pleasing and effective contrast 
between the character of the foliage — the one solid 
and succulent, the other open and airy — is well indi- 
cated. 
h is frequently and even usually expedient, and 
always satisfactory, to use more or less of such tender 
stuff to supplement the meager growth made during 
the first year by most of the hardy material that must 
form the basis of all permanent planting. 
Care must be taken to secure young plants 
of nearly all kinds of hardy vines. They do much 
better than older specimens. Well rooted two-year-old 
VINE COVERED DWELLING, DAYTON, OHIO. 
South Park Improvement Club Contest 1900. 
plants are the best choice in most cases. In using pot- 
grown plants, older specimens are sometimes a better 
selection. For spring planting, pot-grown plants 
of Ampelopsis Veitchii, of Clematis coccinea, of C. 
paniculata, of crimson rambler rose, and of some other 
things are a wise choice, even at the advanced prices 
asked for them. They are certain to live and make a 
good showing the first season. Some of them will 
flower the first season, notably C. paniculata, the queen 
all-around vine. 
Akebia quinata is an admirable vine where hand- 
some and enduring foliage is the desideratum. It is 
almost evergreen in the latitude of southern Illinois. 
It requires supports around which its long, woody 
shoot may twine. Prof. Bailey gives the Japanese 
Actinidia polygama an excellent reputation. Viti« 
