January 17.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
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Position. —The chief place for these plants, in a 
conservatory, is against pillars, pilasters, and along 
the main rafters of the building. If to these the 
main shoots are securely fastened, the flowering shoots 
of the season may he allowed to hang, wreathe, and 
festoon, almost as they like. A lofty house, espe¬ 
cially, looks very beautiful, when the plants are in 
flower and thus managed ; and the shade of the 
creepers in summer will be advantageous to the plants 
below. Whatever else there may be in a house, if 
this is destitute of creepers, it will always present a 
starved, bald appearance. Many elements of beauty 
it may possess, but it will be beauty dissociated, and 
divided into incongruous parts, rather than blended 
and concentrated in a harmonious whole. The sen¬ 
sations produced are something analogous to those 
we feel in looking at a beautiful column, standing 
upon a suitable plinth, but a column upon which the 
capital has never been placed. What the capital is 
to the column, the climbers are to an ornamental 
plant-house. 
Planting. — For such conservatory purposes, the 
plants may be grown in large pots or boxes; and, if 
well supplied with water and surface-dressings, they 
will answer admirably. But where the house is large, 
and well-drained borders, inside the house, can be 
made, it is generally advisable to turn the plants 
out; though, in the case of some very strong-grow 
ing plants, it is advisable merely to break the bottom 
of the pot, and then plunge it, which helps for a time 
to restrain its luxuriance. The advantages of planting- 
out in this manner are several. The plant grows 
more rapidly at first; and extra luxuriance is easily 
checked, by disbudding and root-pruning ; less atten¬ 
tion to watering will be necessary; and, if the plants 
should become subject to insects, such as the white 
scale, they may be cut down to within a few feet of the 
surface; and the strength existiug in the roots will 
soon cause the protrusion of fresh, strong, healthy 
shoots. 
For most plants to be thus turned out, rough, fibry, 
turfy loam, and peat, in equal proportions, and a 
little silver sand, and lumps of charcoal in addition, 
will answer very well; giving most loam to the freely- 
growing plants. It is advisable not to plant until 
April, as then active growth will at once commence ; 
but, previously to that time, small plants may be ob¬ 
tained and forwarded by every encouragement, giv¬ 
ing them repeated shiftings, and never allowing them 
to be pot-bound. 
Pruning .—We have, especially in the Calendar, al¬ 
luded several times to the pruning and cutting-in of 
these climbers in winter; not because it is the best 
time, but because it becomes necessary for the pur¬ 
pose of relieving from shade the plants beneath them, 
during the dark days. The tenderer kinds should be 
cut rather sparingly, until the sap becomes active in 
the early spring, The greater part of the most 
showy climbers for a conservatory, where the tem¬ 
perature ranges from 45° to 50° in winter (such as 
we have been alluding to for a fortnight past), as pas¬ 
sion-flower and the Mandevilla, maybe pruned just 
as you would a vine, upon the spur, the short-rod, or 
the long-rod system, because the flowers are produced 
from the shoots that spring from the best buds on 
the wood of last season’s growth. Recollect, how¬ 
ever, that if you were to cut all away, except a number 
of long rods, you would run the risk of having flower¬ 
ing shoots produced merely from their points, as the 
farthest-back buds would not be so inclined to break; 
while, if you spurred close in, unless the wood was 
well ripened, you might obtain more wood and less 
bloom than you calculated upon. You can scarcely 
cut in too severely; but until you know exactly what 
your plants can do, take a middle course, and cut in 
to a one-budded spur, and to short rods respectively, 
unless when you want to fill a space, when a long one 
should be retained. 
In the case of several Jasmines, Bignonias, and 
Tecomas, the weaker shoots should be removed, strong 
rampant ones cut away, and those of medium growth 
and well-swelled buds retained, for a considerable 
part of their length, according to their strength ; cut¬ 
ting back others, so as to secure young shoots for 
another year. Spurring such plants to any extent 
would only give you masses of shoots instead of 
flowers: just as takes place when a climbing rose is 
treated like a dwarf one. 
In such a conservatory, where the temperature is 
seldom below 45° in winter, many climbers that are 
usually considered fit only for a stove will flourish, 
more especially if the roof should be hipped instead 
of a mere lean-to ; as then, by openings in the back 
wall, front air, and open doors, at times there may 
be sufficient ventilation for greenhouse plants below ; 
while the climbers above could regale themselves 
with a very high temperature. In the central parts 
of such a house, the following will flourish, but the 
plants ought to be a good size before being planted, 
and then should be turned out in the centre of the 
house; unless where there is a flue in the back wall, 
when the back border should receive the preference. 
The first-named are those that require the warmest 
positions :— 
Stephanotis floribunda : white, sweet-scented. 
Passiflora Kermesina: crimson. 
,, Buonapartea : red, and blue, and white. 
,, cdulis : white; fruit pleasant. 
Bignonia Chirere : reddish-orange. 
,, gracilis: yellow. 
Tecoma jasminoides: whitish, crimson centre. 
Ipomea Learii: large blue flower. 
,, rubro-coerulea: blue, with red streaks ; delicately line. 
,, Sellowii: large rose. 
Physiantlius albans ; white bladder-like flower. 
Mandevilla suaveolens : white; deliciously fragrant. 
Then, such as the following might be planted near 
the ends and cooler parts of the house :— 
Jasminum grandiflorum: white. 
,, azoricum : ditto. 
Passiflora alato raccmosa: rose-coloured. 
,, Colvilii: blue and white. 
Tacsonia pinnatistipula : rose. 
Brachysema latifolia: scarlet. 
Kennedya Marryattoe: red. 
,, Comptoniana: blue. 
,, monophylla: purple. 
,, nigricans : dark purple, almost black, with yellowish-green 
centre. 
,, rubicunda: brownish-red. 
Under such treatment, the lower part of the tenderer 
plants will be apt to become naked, as it is only on 
the roof, and hanging from it, that in such a house 
they can be expected to thrive luxuriantly. The 
naked stem, however, may either be concealed by 
some of their own branches brought down, by plants 
being set against them, or by having them surrounded 
by other creepers, in pots, of a less luxuriant character, 
such as:— 
Mancttia bicolor ; yellow and red. 
„ cordata ■) , 
„ glabra / scarlet - 
Thunbergia: most of the species and varieties during the summer 
and autumn. 
Torenia Asiatica: blue and purple, &c., &c. 
And for the cooler ends of the house, the following 
might be used for a similar purpose :— 
Kennedya longeraccmosa : pink. 
„ prostrata j , et- 
,, coccinea i 
Sollya hcterophylla : blue. 
