November 11, 1905. 
THE O ARDEN IN O WORLD 
The Editor invites enquiries, which may cover 
any branch of gardening. Questions should be as 
brief as possible and written on one side oj the 
paper only ; a separate sheet of paper should be 
used for each question. Readers are invited to 
give their fellow gardeners the benefit of their 
experience by seeding supplementary replies—see 
Prize Competitions. 
Replies cannot be sent by post. 
Garden Plans .—Gardeners who would make 
the best use of this column are invited to prepare 
and forward to us a rough outline dra < ing or plan 
Jl 
of their gardens, indicating the position of beds 
and lawns, the character and height oj the fence 
or wcdl ; position of vegetable garden, orchard, 
etc. d he north side of the garden and any over- 
shadowing buildings should be denoted. It should 
also be stated whether the garden is fat or on a 
declivity, and all large trees should be marked. 
Particulars of the nature of the soil will also 
help us to give satisjactory replies. When such 
plans are received they will be carefully filed., w.lh 
the name and address of the sender, and will be 
consulted by the Editor whenever an enquiry is sent. 
ClimbingjjHy dr ange a. 
Being a regular reader of The Gardening 
World, I beg the privilege of addressing the fol¬ 
lowing query to you, and hope to see what infor¬ 
mation you will be so good as to offer in one of 
your subsequent numbers. I have a- climbing 
Hydrangea growing up a back wall facing south¬ 
west, but being ignorant of its nature or its full- 
grown appearance, can you inform me whether it 
bears flowers, and, if so, of what description ? 
also to what ornamental use may the plant be 
put—whether it isi properly an indoor plant or if 
any satisfactory result may be expected from it 
in its present position? It was obtained from a 
Hampshire nursery, and is called a climbing 
Hydrangea, although it is clinging by the stems 
just as Ivy does. (Medeto.) 
From your description, we take the Hydrangea, 
to be H. petiolaris, which is hardy in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of London—at least, when grown upon a 
wall—so that a greenhouse for it is unnecessary. 
It bears large clusters of white flowers arranged 
in flat trusses, the large ones being around the 
outside of the trusses and small ones in the centre. 
The only ornamental use of the plant, as far as 
we are aware, is as a wall climber in the open, and 
it ought to succeed in your mild district and 
flower well upon a south or west aspect wall. You 
cannot expect it to flower at all freely until it gets 
10ft. or 12ft. high, as it is rather a strong climber, 
and requires to attain its natural dimensions 
before it flowers freely. Although it clings to the 
wall by means of short roots it would be safer, 
perhaps, to tie the main stems or fasten them with 
shreds here and there, just to make them 
secure when the plant gets bulky and heavy. 
When of large size and flowering freely it is fairly 
ornamental, so that you will require to have 
patience until it reaches the proper size. 
Water Supply for Residence. 
The County Court judge ruled that although 
there was but one supply pipe, the Water Board 
was justified in charging for two high services, 
because there were branches under the roof to 
two separate cisterns, and that I must pay the 
10s. per annum extra because I use a hose for 
garden watering. I call it most unjust. How¬ 
ever, my eyes are open to the fact that the proper 
course now is for me to get my residence assessed 
separately from the garden by the Fulham 
Borough Council for rateable purposes, and then 
the water rate will 'be chargeable upon the house 
rating only for domestic supply, and I shall gain 
thereby in the water, as well as reduce the in¬ 
habited house duty charge, because it is unjust 
to rate both garden and house at one sum. I 
am afraid thousands pay inhabited house duty on 
their garden value as I have been doing. (J. H. 
Heathman.) 
You speak of having two separate cisterns, and 
presumably one of them has been used for water¬ 
ing £he garden. This in itself was sufficient for 
you ,to become, chargeable for double rate on the 
water. Some of the officials of the water com¬ 
pany have probably seen you watering your 
garden with a hose, or somebody else has seen 
you and reported the same. From what you say, 
we gather that the water rate for the garden 
would be cheaper to have it assessed apart from 
the rateable charges on the house ; but in either 
case, so long as you continue watering the garden 
with a hose you will have to pay for that, whether 
it is rated along with the house or separately. 
Some enthusiastic amateur gardeners obtain a hose 
for the watering of their garden quite innocent 
of the fact that they will be chargeable if dis¬ 
covered using water by means of a hose in the 
garden. 
Cherries Trained Over an Arch. 
Will you kindly answer in your “ Inquire 
Within ” column if Cherries will do trained over 
an arch. It would be about 10ft. span and 9ft. 
high, and the width, say, 3ft. (Wm. H. Warren.) 
The Cherries will succeed well enough when 
grown upon an arch, and ripen their fruits freely 
enough, just as Cherries will do when grown in 
the form of standards or trees of any form. Your 
chief difficulty, however, will be to preserve the 
Cherries from birds until they are perfectly ripe. 
By having the trees upon an arch you will have 
double the surface to cover with netting that you 
would have on a wall, but if the arch is only 3ft. 
wide the amount of netting would not be very 
great. You would' have to elevate it by means 
of stakes tied to the netting and arch on the 
upper side, so as to keep the net sufficiently far 
away from the Cherries to prevent birds stealing 
them through the meshes. 
Plants for Crevices of a Wall. 
Would you please give me in your next issue a 
list of twenty-four of the most suitable plants for 
planting in the crevices of a wall ; also name a 
few of the most suitable hardy Ferns for the same 
purpose. (E. J. Edwards.) 
A large number of the crustaceous Saxifragas 
are very suitable’ for this kind of work, but we 
select only a few of the most ornamental and 
suitable, namely, S. Aizoon or any of its varieties, 
S. crustata, S. lingulata. lantos cana, S. longifolia, 
and S. cochlearis or any of its varieties. The 
Houseleeks or Sempervivums also include a large 
number of suitable species, amongst which we 
should name S. arachnoideum, S. Laggeri, and 
the common Houseleek, S. tectorum. The wild 
species of Pink are also very numerous, and many 
of them are highly suitable for this kind of work. 
The garden Pink (Dianthus plumarius) should be 
used in the single or any of the double forms, but 
the single would be most appropriate. Other 
suitable species are D. caesius (the Cheddar Pink), 
D. superbus, and D. monspessulanus. Other first- 
class subjects are Androsace lanuginosa, Linaria 
Cymbalaria, L. alpina, Iberri sempervirens (Ever¬ 
green Candytuft) and its varieties, I. s. garrexiana 
and Little Gem, Centranthus ruber (Red 
Valerian), Hypericum olympicum, Campanula 
portenschlagiana; any of the rock Roses (single 
or double) which you can procure, .that is. varia- 
ties of Helianthemum vulgare, Aethionema grandi- 
florum, and Aubretia deltoidea Leichtlinii, or any 
875 
other of its varieties. The above gives you 
twenty-two species, even if you only have one- 
form or variety of each, except in the case of 
Candytuft, where we have named two varieties. 
You should, however, add Iheris tenoreana, with 
lilac-pink flowers, and Ramondia pyrenaica. The 
latter is a very choice subject, hut it would he 
almost necessary to plant it in a situation where 
the soil is fairly moist and does not receive direct 
sunshine between ten in the morning and six in 
the afternoon. Most of the hardy Ferns might he 
grown upon a wall, provided it has been built 
specially for gardening of this character. This 
would imply a layer of soil between the stones 
and a hollow wall tilled up inside with, earth, or 
the wall might have only one face and banked up 
with good soil behind. It largely depends upon 
the amount of moisture which the wall will hold 
and the amount of exposure to sunshine as to the 
number of Ferns which you could grow. Amongst 
the smaller Ferns we should recommend Asple- 
nium Trichomanes, A. Adiantum-nigrum, and A. 
C'eterach. The Hart’s-tongue also succeeds well 
upon walls that are fairly moist. The common 
one is very suitable, hut several of the varieties 
are much more handsome, and might be employed 
if you are certain they would succeed. The 
common Polypody (Polypodium vulgare) is also 
an admirable subject for the crevices or the top 
of the wall, and if likely to succeed you could 
get some of the finer varieties, all of which are 
perfectly hardy and of easy growth after you get. 
them established. If you would like to insert 
some of the taller ones, then you might plant 
any of the Lastreas, including L. Filix-mas 
cristata or other of the fine varieties obtainable. 
The Polystichums would also succeed well grown 
under those conditions, and the most handsome is 
P. angulare. Of course, there are numerous fine 
varieties of it which you could obtain from those 
who grow Ferns. The two last-named types of 
Ferns, being tall growers, should be planted in 
crevices near the base of the wall if the latter is 
at all dry, but if it is capable of retaining 
moisture and can be watered artificially they 
could be planted on any part of the wall. 
Increasing Michaelmas Daisies. 
I have a small collection of Michaelmas Daisies 
which aie not all of the same quality or not to 
my taste. What is the best time and way to 
increase the good varieties? (Aster.) 
Being very hardy, the Michaelmas Daisies may 
be propagated by division at any time during 
the winter months, provided the weather is 
open. It would be advantageous if they could 
be done earlier, so that they would get established 
before winter. l~ou can also do it at any time 
up to the end of March. In the case of strong¬ 
growing species, pieces for planting should be 
taken from the outside of the clump, as they grow 
more vigorously than those in the crowded centre 
of the plant. Most of the Asters will give you 
a sufficient number of young plants from the 
old stools; but in the case of scarce ones you 
could thin out the shoots in spring and insert 
the thinnings as cuttings. As a rule, they may 
be rooted easily in a greenhouse, as the tempera¬ 
ture by the beginning of April would be sufficient, 
even although the house is not heated. 
Box Edgings. 
There is a quaint and old-fashioned fascina¬ 
tion about Box edgings that I have cherished for 
many years ; but in our present garden we have 
difficulty in keeping the edgings from getting 
gappy. Pieces die out or get broken through 
being trodden upon. Could -you suggest aiiy 
remedy for this? (R. Headley.) 
If Box edgings are trodden upon, they cer¬ 
tainly will get broken down, as the stems are 
very hard and brittle. In such a. case you would 
have to devise means for warning people off the 
edgings. In other cases your soil may he heavy 
and less suitable to the dwarf Box than it would 
be for the tree or common Box. The latter is 
a more vigorous grower than the variety which 
is usually employed for Box edgings, and there¬ 
fore appears hardier. Both are of equal hardi¬ 
ness, however, but in some gardens it has been 
found that the tree Box gives more satisfaction 
than dwarf Box for edgings. If yours is the 
