The Available Hardy Vines 
BY THATCHING MONOTONOUS WALLS THEY BECOME DISTINCT ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES- 
THE FLOWERING AND FOLIAGE VARIETIES, THE SLOW-GROWING AND THE QUICK CLIMBERS 
by F. F. Rockwell 
Photographs by N. R. Graves and Alary H. Nor mend 
F EW other features to which the gardener may turn his atten¬ 
tion can so intimately become part of the house itself and so 
radically alter its appearance as will hardy vines. Fortunately, 
this list of good, hardy vines now available is a lengthy one, and 
includes sorts adapted to every purpose. 
One seldom sees the newer varieties, 
however, as hardy plants of this type, 
although of sterling worth, require sev¬ 
eral years to become well established, 
and consequently never take the popular 
fancy as quickly as do the more con¬ 
spicuous and cheaper annuals and 
quick-growing perennials! 
It is not putting the case too strongly 
to say that there is scarcely a single su¬ 
burban or country house that does not 
require the addition of climbing vines 
at one point or another. Merely as an 
architectural feature—to soften sharp 
angles or corners, to break up the mo¬ 
notony of blank 
surfaces, or to 
lend grace and 
airiness to the too 
straight line of 
veranda, balcony, 
or window—they 
are unsurpassed. 
Of no less impor¬ 
tance is their 
value for screen¬ 
ing—for coolness 
and for privacy. 
Suitable vines, 
properly trained, 
will keep out the 
blaze of midsum¬ 
mer suns and the 
curious eyes of 
passers-by with¬ 
out shutting out 
light and air, as 
does a screen. In 
this connection 
the prospective 
planter must keep 
in mind that some 
vines naturally 
supply a thick, 
dense shade, and others, with more scanty or differently formed 
foliage, while answering as a screen, are more open and airy. 
The Dutchman’s Pipe vine (Aristolochia Sipho ) is an example 
of the former, and the akebia vine—one of the more recent in¬ 
troductions from Japan, and one of our most graceful climbing 
vines—an example of the latter. Some of the clinging, thatch- 
foliage vines, such as the ivies, are of practical as well as decora¬ 
tive value. They shed water like a duck’s back, and not only 
cover, but protect against the wet, walls and roofs over which 
they run. 
There is no more effective argument for the hardy vines than 
their intrinsic beauty, and this is true of the foliage as well as 
of the flowering sorts. Who can for¬ 
get having stood beneath the purple 
pendants of a wistaria, with the gen¬ 
tle night breeze swaying the giant 
tassels to and fro in the moonlight, or 
stopped in the midst of an autumn 
walk to admire the clouds of white¬ 
ness spread over the hedgerow of wild 
shrubs and bushes by the clematis! 
And as for gorgeous flowers—the 
blossoms themselves, rather then the 
effectiveness of the whole plant—one 
would have to look far to find any¬ 
thing more beautiful than the combi¬ 
nations of form and color shown in 
the new large-flowering hybrid clem¬ 
atis, of which 
Jackmani, a very 
large deep pur¬ 
ple, is perhaps 
the most widely 
known. 
As no hardy 
vine, or type of 
hardy vine, can 
be considered the 
“best” for all pur¬ 
poses, the several 
types of groups 
should be clearly 
distinguished be¬ 
fore one makes 
bis selections. 
Getting complete 
satisfaction from 
ob^rdy- wines—as, 
in deep, from 
most of the other 
things which one 
’plants—will de- 
’jDQ;cl very largely 
uppY, selecting a 
type-qp variety 
adap’tt.cl-.hi Jhe 
special purpose in 
mind. Soil conditions and light and shade must be remembered. 
The first classification which naturally occurs is into the flower¬ 
ing and the non-flowering of foliage sorts. In the case of vines 
this is not a very satisfactory division, however. While some, 
like the large-flowering clematis, are valuable almost entirely on 
account of their flowers, others, like the ivies, for their foliage, 
the majority of vines are desirable alike for both foliage and 
flowers, or, in a number of cases, the colored fruits which follow 
