16 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
April 
always make allowances for diseased plants in pots 
or boxes, until means for their recovery can be dis¬ 
covered, but a sickly climber is such an obvious evi¬ 
dence of bad management, that no one can pass it 
over without remark. 
Deep borders with old exhausted soil, or with a wet 
bottom, will either starve the climbers, or, if they 
are of a strong constitution, and can send down their 
roots, they will ramble away, and make large soft 
growths, and no flowers to speak of. Therefore, it is 
of the first importance that the borders should be 
carefully made and laid dry at the bottom, for, 
unless this is well attended to in the first instance, no 
amount of either perseverance or skill will get over 
this difficulty. 
But let us now suppose that all this is finished or 
determined upon, the next question will be, what is 
a proper selection of climbers for particular situations 
in the house ? I shall, therefore, begin to furnish 
the most difficult part first, which is the back wall, 
and shall suppose that a stage or bed occupies the 
centre of the house, and a pathway all the way 
round, with a border between it and the sides of the 
house. This is a common arrangement when the 
greenhouse, or conservatory, is attached to a dwell- 
ing-liouse, with a glass door between it and the 
living rooms, and it is always the best arrangement 
when the situation will allow of it. I had a sensible 
letter handed over to me lately, from “ A Rector in 
the West of England ,” describing a cool conservatory 
attached to the west side of his house, with an aspect 
rather to the north-west. The south side of this 
conservatory is formed by a wing of the house, and 
this end wall, therefore, has a north aspect. The 
side of the house forming the back wall he wishes to 
cover with evergreen climbers, that will look well in 
winter, flower in summer, and live if the frost is just 
excluded; his only heating apparatus being a porta¬ 
ble stove. Now, although there is no end to the 
different arrangements that may be met with in con¬ 
servatories of this class, it will be more to the pur¬ 
pose if we take a particular instance, and the house 
in question will answer as well as any, besides fur 
nisliing some hints to the owner, who, on the prin¬ 
ciple of “ first come first served,” is entitled to this 
precedence. Against the south end wall of this con¬ 
servatory, having a north aspect, I propose to plant 
the finest flowering evergreen plant in England— 
Habrothamnus faciculatus, “• one of the gayest plants 
of the Mexican Flora,” that grand emporium of beau¬ 
tiful vegetation. 
This beautiful plant is a recent introduction, and 
its capabilities are not yet fully known. It was first 
named and described by a foreign botanist; we have, 
therefore, no English name for it, but if we pry into 
the meaning which this foreign man of science meant 
to convey by the name Habrothamnus, we ought to 
rest satisfied without translating it, for the applica¬ 
tion is most inappropriate. This name—like ninety- 
nine out of every hundred of generic names used by 
naturalists—is compounded of two Greek words, 
habros, delicate, and thamnos, a shrub; that is, “ a 
delicate shrub.” Now, if we acquiesce in this mean¬ 
ing, we must, on the same principle, admit a Suffolk 
pig to be a delicate animal, and so it is when well 
cooked. The Habrothamnus is no doubt the same 
in a dry herbarium; but in full growth, in a conser¬ 
vatory border, he is a voracious fellow! 
This Mexican beauty is not a climber, but there is 
no way of showing it off to the best advantage like 
training it against a wall. It will answer on any 
aspect all round the compass, is the most easy plant 
to manage I know, and will fill a wall ten or twelve 
feet high in three years, and spread as many feet in 
width. In that time it will also flower from the 
surface of the ground to the top of the branches, and 
on a north aspect the flowers will last two months; 
for we have it here, at Shrubland Park, on a full 
south and due north aspect, and by the time the 
plant on the south wall is going out of bloom, that 
on the north is coming in to succeed it. Moreover, 
the plant is so hardy that seven or eight degrees of 
frost will not injure it, if the wood is ripe. Our 
plants of it here are against a wall out of doOrs, but 
we have the means of keeping the frost from it. Our 
first plant is now about in full flower, but people at 
a distance would say I was romancing if I were to 
say how many thousands of blossoms are and have 
been on it this season. It will come from cuttings 
easier than a geranium, and I should think a couple 
of shillings ought to buy a good plant of it; indeed, 
the nurserymen do, not seem to care much about it, as 
it will not flower well in pots or boxes; neither will it 
make much show if treated as a shrub planted in the 
bed of a conservatory. It must be spread out fan 
fashion against a wall, and kept thin of shoots. 
Another way of treating this most beautiful plant, 
is to plant it out against a house or wall in May; to 
be taken up and potted in October, and wintered in a 
greenhouse, or even in a dry shed, like fuchsias. It 
would then cast its leaves, or the greater part of them, 
and very little water would suffice to keep it in good 
order all the winter, like an oleander; and it might 
be turned out early in April, and trained against a 
wall as before. It might thus be easily managed for 
many years. It will not answer well if planted in a 
confined place in or out of doors: it could, how¬ 
ever, be managed if it has ten feet of head room. 
The next evergreen climber I would recommend 
for the back wall of a greenhouse, where many delicate 
plants would not thrive, is a plant that will grow 
with great freedom under disadvantage, and is called 
Solatium jasminoides, or Tree potato, as we call it 
sometimes, because it is of the same genus as the 
potato, with innumerable clusters of small white 
flowers, which look, at a short distance, exactly like 
those of a white jasmine; hence the second name. 
This useful climber is almost, if not altogether, hardy; 
but it does much better with a slight shelter in winter, 
and as it is very easy to manage, and will live any¬ 
where, it is well suited for the back wall of a green¬ 
house or conservatory. If planted in a good border, 
and well supplied with water the first season, it would 
reach the top of the wall, or, say, 12 to 15 feet, in 
three years, and if necessary would fill 8 or 10 feet 
of such a wall right and left, so that this plant would 
cover 20 feet in length of an ordinary back wall; but 
of course it need not be indulged so far. As soon as 
it covers its allotted space, it must be checked by cut¬ 
ting its roots in February each season. We have a 
full grown plant of it at Shrubland Park against the 
warm wall already alluded to, and that is the way we 
manage it. Last month we cut oil' all the roots that 
extended beyond three feet from the stem. It is now 
in full bud, for it never fails to bloom from May to 
the end of October, and everybody admires it. The 
leaves are not unlike those of a privet, and always 
dark green. 
It is one of the prettiest flowers I know for making 
wreaths of for young ladies’ hair; if dressed up with 
a few of its own leaves it looks beautiful against dark 
hair by candle light. When we have large parties here, 
I often amuse myself in culling out the best kinds of 
