CHAPTER XXXV

THE USE OF HARDY CLIMBING SHRUBS[2]

The best and best known of our good hardy climbing shrubs are by no means neglected, but yet they are not nearly as much or as well used as they might be. Such a fine thing as the easily-grown _Clematis montana_ will not only cover house and garden walls with its sheets of lovely bloom, but it is willing to grow in wilder ways among trees and shrubs, where its natural way of making graceful garlands and hanging ropes of bloom shows its truest and best uses much better than when it is trained straight along the joints of walls or tied in more stiffly and closely. Even if there are only a few stiff bushes such as Gorse or low Thorns to support and guide it, it gladly covers them just as does the Traveller's Joy (_Clematis Vitalba_) of our chalkland hedges. This climber, though a native plant and very common in calcareous soils, is worthy of any garden. _C. V. rosea_ is a very fine variety. _Clematis Flammula_ is another of the family that should be more often treated in a free way, and grown partly trained through the branches of a Yew or an Ilex. The less-known _Clematis orientalis_, with yellow flowers and feathery seeds, and the fine October-blooming _C. paniculata_, make up five members of one family, apart from the large-flowered Clematises, that all lend themselves willingly to this class of pictorial treatment.

One of the most important of our climbing shrubs, the _Wistaria_, makes grand growth in all the south of England. This also can be used to excellent effect trained into some rather thinly-furnished tree such as an old Acacia. Its grey snake-like stems and masses of bloom high up in the supporting tree are shown to excellent effect. This is also a fine plant for a pergola. A few plants growing free and rambling full length would, after the first few years, when they are getting old, cover a pergola from end to end. The piers or posts could also be covered with the same, for though the nature of the plant is to ramble, yet if kept to one stem and closely pruned it readily adapts itself to pillar form, and bears a wonderful quantity of bloom.

Among the Grape Vines there is a great variety of ways of use other than the stiff wall training they generally receive. If they are wanted for fruit they must be pruned, but most outdoor Vines are grown for the beauty of their foliage. Here is another first-class pergola plant, making dense leafy shade, and growing in a way that is delightfully pictorial. Nothing looks better rambling over old buildings. Now that so many once prosperous farms are farms no longer, and that their dwelling-houses are being converted to the use of another class of occupier, the rough out-buildings, turned into stabling, and adapted for garden sheds, often abut upon the new-made pleasure-garden. This is the place where the Vines may be so well planted. If the main stem only is trained or guided it is well to leave the long branches to shift for themselves, for they will ramble and dispose themselves in so pictorial a way that the whole garden is bettered by their rioting grandeur of leaf mass.

_Aristolochia Sipho_, with its twining stems and handsome leaves, will, like the Vine and the Virginian Creeper, answer to all these uses of jungle-like growth among trees and shrubs and free climbing in hedge, over pergola or rough building.

The employment of the climbing and rambling Roses is also now understood for all such uses, and the illustration shows the value of the Dutch Honeysuckle for this purpose.

A rough hedge containing perhaps only a few Thorns and Hollies and stub Oaks, and a filling of Wild Brambles, may be made glorious with the free hardy climbers just guided into the bushes and then left to ramble as they will.

In the growth of the rarer and most distinct and beautiful of climbing shrubs one must in the main be guided by the natural surroundings of soil and shelter or by climatic conditions. In the cold midland and northern districts of England we have seen common Laurels and many Roses killed to the ground during severe winters.

In Hampshire, Devon, and Cornwall, and in many other isolated and sheltered nooks near the sea in England south of the Thames, many so-called cool greenhouse plants often grow and thrive luxuriantly in the open air. This is also true of many localities in the south and west of Ireland, such as Fota, Cork, Bantry, and Tralee, where New Zealand, Japanese, Californian, and many Chilian shrubs are quite happy in the open air. Nearly all visitors to Glengarriff notice the luxuriance of the Fuchsias, which, not being cut down there every winter by severe frosts, assume more or less of a tree-like aspect, and are literally one mass of brilliant coral-red flowers during summer and autumn. But it is even more wonderful to see there growing up the front of the hotels and elsewhere such plants as _Maurandya_, _Lophospermum_, _Mikania_, and Cape Pelargoniums year after year. But, apart from mild climates, aspect has an enormous effect on many climbing shrubs, and especially on light dry soils. _Lapageria_, for example, prefers a northern exposure, and the same is true of _Berberidopsis corallina_, and the remarkable _Mutisia decurrens_. Many climbers and trailers, again, are hardy on north or north-western walls that are ruined by bright sunshine after frost, which is often experienced on south and especially south-western exposures. Even when climbers like _Wistaria_, _Jasminum nudiflorum_, _Ceanothus_, _Pyrus_ and many others are perfectly hardy on sunny walls it is often a great advantage to train a few branches over the top of the wall to the shady side, as in these cases there is a week or ten days or more difference in the time of blooming, and so an agreeable succession is obtained.

In planting both walls and pergolas there is danger in planting too thickly, and in planting too hurriedly or without sufficient preparation. We all must perforce often do the best we can rather than the best we know. Large-growing, permanent shrubs, such as _Pyrus japonica_, _Wistaria_, and _Magnolias_, which may remain in the same spot for twenty years or more, often fail through starvation, and in any case never attain their full luxuriance and beauty if cramped and stunted during the first few years after planting. Again, it must be remembered that both wall and pergola creepers often suffer from dryness during the summer and autumn months, and provision should be made for necessary mulching and watering.

There is one important point that must be attended to in the planting of anything of which the general hardiness is not fully assured, and that is, never plant late in autumn. The golden rule with all half-hardy things is to plant well in April or May, after all danger from severe frost, &c., is over, so as to allow the plants a long summer and autumn season of root and top-growth before the stress and strain of winter weather come upon them. In this way many plants will succeed perfectly in establishing themselves that would at once die off if planted out in October or November.

ABELIA.--_A. floribunda_ is a Mexican plant. Mr. Burbidge writes in the _Garden_, April 14, 1900, p. 272: "I have seen it very handsome in flower on a low wall at Mount Usher, county Wicklow. Its pendent flowers in axillary clusters are of a rich purple red, and remind one of some Fuchsias." _A. chinensis_, a Chinese plant, is very pretty, as also is _A. triflora_ from North India.

ABUTILON.--Several of the Abutilons are sufficiently hardy to thrive on walls or in borders near to heated plant-houses. Mr. Burbidge writes in the _Garden_: "I have seen _A. striatum_, _A. vexillarium_, and _A. vitifolium_ grow and bloom for years outside. The last-named forms a spreading bush 10 to 13 feet high in South, West, and Eastern Ireland. It has leaves somewhat resembling those of the Grape Vine, and clusters of pale-lilac, mauve, or lavender-tinted flowers that remind one of those of _Meconopsis Wallichi_ in shape, size, and colour. _A. vitifolium_ comes from Chili, and enjoys shelter and ample root moisture, being apt to suffer from drought near walls, otherwise it grows well thereon." _Abutilon vexillarium_, when afforded the protection of a south wall, blooms for eight months out of the twelve, bearing on slender, curving shoots its handsome, bell-shaped flowers with their crimson sepals, yellow petals, and protruding dark-brown stamens well into the month of December should no severe frost occur. Florists' varieties of the Abutilon, such as Boule de Neige, also do well on sheltered walls.

ADLUMIA CIRRHOSA.--This grows quickly, and the fern-like leaves, covering almost the twining stems, possess much beauty; the flowers are white. A biennial, but sows itself freely. North America.

AKEBIA QUINATA.--A most distinct Japanese creeper with five-lobed leaves and twining stems; although generally grown in a greenhouse, where it flowers in January or February, it is quite hardy in mild sea-shore places, and bears its monoecious flowers in April or May. The rich wine-purple flowers are borne in axillary grape-like clusters, and their translucent petals are very beautiful as seen between the eye and the light. It likes a rich, deep, loamy soil, and is increased by suckers or layers. Although introduced to our gardens from Chusan in 1845, it has never become very abundant, but it deserves a place for its distinctive character.

ALOYSIA CITRIODORA (Sweet Verbena).--Another popular name for the _Aloysia_ is Lemon plant; it is a fragrant pale-green leaved bush, not very hardy, and therefore best placed when against a sunny wall. Except in quite the south of England and Ireland, it is generally wise to cover over the stems with a straw mat and heap ashes over the roots. It is often seen as a large bush against the sea. We have seen it thus on the Carnarvon coast. Chili.

AMPELOPSIS.--Now included with the Vines (_Vitis_).

APIOS TUBEROSA.--This has pea-shaped violet-scented flowers. It is sometimes pretty rambling over a shrub. North America.

ARISTOLOCHIA SIPHO (Dutchman's Pipe).--Frequently planted against a wall; its leaves are very large and handsome, and the dull-coloured flowers, owing to their shape, have given rise to the popular name.

ATRAGENE ALPINA.--A hardy wall climber, and known under the name of _Clematis alpina_. It enjoys a lime soil. A native of Europe.

AZARA.--The best known of these is _A. microphylla_; it is not one of the hardiest of shrubs, but in many gardens, especially where sheltered and by the sea, it covers much space with dense glossy leaves; the flowers are white, small, and give place to orange-coloured berries in autumn. It is quite a shrubby wall plant.

BENTHAMIA FRAGIFERA.--Now known as _Cornus capitata_, but in gardens its old name will long be retained. In Devon, Cornwall, and in Wicklow, Cork, and Kerry, and elsewhere in Ireland, this fine shrub flowers and fruits luxuriantly as a bush on the border or lawn, but in less favoured places it needs the warmth and shelter of a wall. It is a native of Nepaul, and is readily increased from home-grown seeds, and the plant, like all its allies, is a rapid grower in any deep, rich, loamy soil. Quite small bushes of this plant and the common _Arbutus Unedo_ are often very handsome as seen laden with fruit in South and Western Ireland.

BERBERIDOPSIS CORALLINA.--Mr. Burbidge writes in the _Garden_: "The finest specimen of this beautiful and distinct evergreen climber I ever saw was on the stable wall at Lakelands, Cork, when that noble place was in the hands of the late Mr. William Crawford, a great lover of garden vegetation. It is a native of the Chilian Andes, introduced in 1862. It likes a deep peaty soil or loam and leaf-mould on a moist bottom, and, like the _Lapageria_ and its dwarf cousin _Philesia_, it enjoys a northern or shaded aspect, rarely thriving for long together in full sunshine. Its flowers resemble those of the Berberis, but are much larger, have pendent stalks, and are of the brightest coral-red or blood colour. It grows and flowers here in a shaded corner under an ivy-topped wall."

BIGNONIA CAPREOLATA.--This is the hardiest of the Bignonias. It needs a warm wall, and there is much beauty in the warm, reddish-orange, trumpet-shaped flowers, which are in clusters from April to August. It grows to a considerable height. North America.

BILLARDIERA LONGIFLORA.--This is the Apple Berry of Tasmania, and is of elegant twining habit, its greenish-yellow flowers, which are not very showy, being succeeded by handsome blue berries that are very ornamental, and are similar in shape and size to Fuchsia fruits. The plant is closely related to the _Pittosporums_ of New Zealand, and grows 2 or 3 feet in height. There are two or three other kinds, but none prettier than _B. longiflora_. It grows best in moist peat and sandstone, at the foot of a half-shaded wall.

CALYSTEGIA.--Also known as Convolvulus. _C. pubescens fl. pl._, the double Bindweed, is more useful for rough stumps than walls, but may be included; the flowers are double, of rosy colouring, and large, and appear during the summer and into the autumn. It is best in warm, well-drained soil.

CAMELLIA.--Mr. Scrase-Dickins writes in the _Garden_, March 30, 1901, p. 227, as follows about these little-understood hardy shrubs: "The best Camellias for planting out of doors in the open air are those which bloom late and start late into growth, such, for instance, as _Chandleri elegans_ or _Anemonæflora_; the varieties with broad roundish leaves appear to grow in more robust fashion than those having narrow pointed ones with a serrated edge, though the latter will make sometimes very compact bushes. It is possible that the sorts with dark-red flowers are hardier than those with pink. The old double white seems to stand the cold well enough, but it hides its flowers rather too much among the foliage to make any effective display of them, though in this way they are often secured from frost or bad weather and made serviceable for cutting. To train against a trellis or wall _Doncklaarii_ is very good, and next to _reticulata_ one of the most beautiful when well grown, blooming so freely.

"Camellias appear to grow in almost any aspect, but are naturally sun lovers; and though preferring peat, they will do in most other soils, provided that there is no lime present. The points of the young roots are very sensitive to drought, so should be protected until well established, by light mulching or a surrounding growth, from the risk of being withered up by a fierce sun striking the ground in which they are starting. Unlike many other shrubs, they seem to have the advantage of being exempt from the destructive attention of rabbits; perhaps when snow is on the ground they might be barked, but I do not remember to have noticed it. Apart from the question of varieties, it may be well to draw attention to the fact that only strong healthy plants should be turned out, for sickly specimens from a conservatory or greenhouse are very slow indeed to make a start, and will remain sometimes for an astonishing number of years in almost the same pitiable state."

CEANOTHUS.--Beautiful wall shrubs. They cannot be regarded as quite hardy, but _C. azureus_ in a garden near London has mounted almost to the chimney stacks; a surface of foliage, and in the appointed season pale-blue flower clusters. The soil is light and the aspect due south; and in cold, sunless places the Ceanothuses, it is well to remember, utterly fail. A warm soil and sunny place suit the shrubs well. Gloire de Versailles, Lucie Simon, and _pallidus_ are amongst the best of the others. Of other species, _C. veitchianus_, deep blue, is very beautiful; and _C. dentatus_ and _C. papillosus_ are also noteworthy.

CHIMONANTHUS FRAGRANS (Winter-sweet).--The variety _grandiflorus_ has larger flowers and of a clearer shade of citron yellow than those of the type, and though the plant is bare of leaf the blossoms make a brave show, and may be descried against a well-toned brick wall from some little distance. It is just as well to bear in mind that this is one of the shrubs which bloom on the young wood, and any pruning or cutting out of useless branches that may be necessary should be done in early spring when the flowers are over, for if it be delayed there will be no flowers next year. It may be raised from seed, but seedlings vary greatly.

CHOISYA TERNATA (Mexican Orange Flower).--Very vigorous, shrubby, glossy, green-leaved plant; rather tender, but quite happy in northern gardens if not very exposed. Its clusters of flowers are very sweet and white.

CLEMATIS (see p. 303).

COTONEASTER (see p. 80).

DIERVILLA.--May be grown against fences and even walls, but are better against the former. I saw a fence covered with the crimson-flowered Eva Rathke in a London garden, and flowered abundantly every year.

ECCREMOCARPUS SCABER.--Climber for wall, arch, or pergola, with reddish flowers. Protect the roots by coating the soil above them with ashes or some protective material.

EDWARDSIA (SOPHORA) TETRAPTERA.--This is called the New Zealand Laburnum. A tree in its own country, but a shrubby wall plant here. _Grandiflora_ is the best variety.

ESCALLONIA (see p. 385).

FUCHSIA.--The hardy Fuchsias are almost unknown, though amongst the most beautiful of hardy shrubs. My favourite is _F. Riccartoni_, but this often makes a good hedge. Very charming also are _F. coccinea_, _F. corymbiflora_, _F. globosa_, _F. macrostemma_, _F. microphylla_, _F. splendens_, and _F. thymifolia_.

HABLITZIA TAMNOIDES.--Better, perhaps, for arch, pergola, or tree stump than a wall, but in some cases it may be placed there. It is a vigorous climber, with misty masses of greenish flowers in summer and autumn. Not often seen.

HEDERA (Ivy).--The Common Ivy when growing in an exposed position will often acquire a rich bronzy hue during winter, but in this respect individual plants vary a good deal, the smaller-leaved forms being as a rule the richest in colour.

The most marked in this respect, and one that from its neat, prettily-lobed leaves is well suited for use in making up button-holes, sprays, &c., is the variety _atropurpurea_, whose distinctive character is far more marked in winter than in summer. _Hedera Helix minima_ must not be confounded with _H. H. conglomerata_, though at a certain stage of growth there is some similarity. A three-year-old specimen differs from the freer _conglomerata_ form in that it grows more flat both as regards the twigs and the leaves on the twigs. It has more shining foliage of a deeper and more sombre green, with pleasing clouded tints, and further, as the name would suggest, it is a smaller plant in all its parts. It is a beautiful creeper for positions on the rock garden, and is one of the best surface plants, as through it bulbs may spear their growth and flowers without injury. _H. H. pedata_ and _H. H. gracilis_, both charming varieties of the small-leaved Ivies, should be in every collection.

The uses to which Ivy may be put are innumerable, and with the many beautiful varieties that are now to be obtained their sphere of usefulness has considerably extended. One of the most picturesque methods of growing Ivy is to allow it to clamber over tree stumps placed here and there in suitable parts of the garden. Ivy banks also are very charming, and for carpeting the bare ground beneath the spreading branches of large trees nothing could be more suitable. For the latter purpose the shoots should be pegged down and kept in position so that they may take root. Suitable varieties for this purpose are _H. dentata_, _H. rægneriana_, _rhombea_, _obovata_, _himalaica_, _pedata_, _palmata_, _lobata_, &c.; but the best of all is an Ivy called Emerald green.

INDIGOFERA GERARDIANA.--During the late summer and early autumn this leguminiferous shrub is one of the most attractive of those that are then in flower. Its finely divided pinnate leaves are of a rich deep green, and almost fern-like in grace and luxuriance. It is, indeed, worth growing for their sake alone. About the end of June it commences to flower, produces its flower-spikes in the leaf-axils, and continues to do so until the middle of September. The flowers are pea-shaped, and borne on spikes 4 to 5 inches long. The colour is a bright rosy purple. The species is a native of the Himalaya, and its stems do not survive winters of even moderate severity. The root-stock is, however, perfectly hardy, and it sends up a thicket of young growths every spring 2 to 4 feet long, which flower the same summer. It is not suited for growing in large masses by itself, because it starts rather slowly, and the season is advanced before the space the plants occupy becomes furnished. But it is very suitable for the herbaceous border, or, still better, as an undergrowth beneath groups of taller, thinly-planted shrubs. It is happy also against a wall. Also known as _I. floribunda_.

JASMINUM.--The White Jasmine (_J. officinale_) is too well known to describe. It is one of the best of the cheaper wall climbers. _Affine_ is the best variety; it has larger flowers. _J. humile_ (_revolutum_), although an Indian species, will succeed against a wall; it has yellow flowers and is evergreen. _J. fruticans_, another bushy species, may also be grown; its flowers are yellow, and succeeded by an abundance of round black berries which are very distinct and pleasing in winter. Of course, the beautiful, fragrant, yellow-flowered _J. nudiflorum_ will not be omitted. The new _J. primulinum_ has large yellow flowers in spring. Wants a wall.

KERRIA JAPONICA.--Sometimes grown against a wall, but an excellent bush for grouping, except in very cold and exposed gardens. The flowers are yellow and produced abundantly. It should be more grown. The double variety, _K. j. flore-pleno_, is frequently seen against cottage walls, and making a cloud of yellow from the double rosette-like flowers in early summer. The major form of this is the best.

LONICERA (Honeysuckle).--This is too well known to describe. The Honeysuckle of the hedgerow is as familiar as the Poppy of the cornfield. The common native Honeysuckle is _Lonicera Periclymenum_, the best variety of which is _serotina_, or late Dutch; it flowers into the autumn, and is of redder colouring. _Belgica_ is the Dutch Honeysuckle and is of strong growth. _L. Caprifolium_ is not a true native, but has become naturalised. _Major_ is a distinct variety. Then there are the evergreen Trumpet Honeysuckles (_L. sempervirens_ and varieties, _minor_ being the best known; the flowers are scarlet and yellow). _Plantierensis_ is a good hybrid with larger flowers. The Trumpet Honeysuckles are not so robust and free as the late Dutch, for example. The well-known variegated Japan Honeysuckle, _L. japonica aureo-reticulata_, should not be planted much; its small, green, yellow-netted leaves are pretty, but one quickly tires of their colouring. _L. etrusca_, orange yellow, and _L. flava_, which must have a warm place, may also be mentioned. Certain species are quite bushy in growth. _L. tomentella_ has small pink flowers in July. _L. fragrantissima_ blooms in winter and is a delightful wall Honeysuckle; its small white flowers are very fragrant. _L. Standishii_ is also sweet scented. A plant or two of either kind near the windows is very pleasant on sunny winter days. The Honeysuckles are charming, and should be in every garden--at least one or other of them.

MAGNOLIA.--_M. grandiflora_ (evergreen) is generally grown against a wall. The large, glossy, green leaves and big, creamy, fragrant flowers are very handsome. _M. conspicua_ (deciduous) I have also seen very beautiful against a wall, a mass of white in late spring. The flowers in this position are less likely to get damaged by frost and rain. Its varieties may be used in the same way, but the type is the best.

OLEARIA (see p. 405).

PASSIFLORA CÆRULEA.--Few climbing plants are more fascinating than the blue Passion Flower. It is, with its bluish flowers and orange, egg-shaped fruit, most happy against a warm wall, and is not the hardiest of climbers. The white variety, Constance Elliot, should be grown also.

PIPTANTHUS NEPALENSIS (Nepaul Laburnum).--This is a shrubby wall plant, and not a very important one. Its yellow flowers remind one of those of the Laburnum, and are borne in clusters.

POLYGONUM BALDSCHUANICUM.--A beautiful shrubby climber, with clouds of white, pink-tinted flowers in summer and autumn. An illustration shows it clambering into a Fir tree near the rock garden at Kew. I have seen many poor forms in gardens, seedlings, and therefore to keep the true type, it must be increased by cuttings. If frost cuts the stems down in winter, new growths spring up in the following year. Its graceful flower masses are useful in the house. _P. molle_ is not unlike it.

PRUNUS TRILOBA is an excellent wall shrub (see illustration).

PUNICA (Pomegranate).--Both single and double.

PYRUS.--The Pyruses are described elsewhere in this book. _P. (Cydonia) japonica_ and its many beautiful varieties, and _P. Maulei_ are, however, more frequently grown against walls than any other members of the same family. _Prunus triloba_ is an excellent wall shrub.

RAPHIOLEPIS OVATA.--A very handsome plant.

ROSA (Rose) (see p. 342).

RUBUS (see p. 450).

SMILAX.--This group is not common in gardens, but is interesting. They are a change from the repetition of a few common things. _S. rotundifolia_ is a very handsome large-leaved Smilax with shiny foliage, now and then met with as _S. laurifolia_ or _S. latifolia_, from which, however, according to Mr. R. Irwin Lynch, of Cambridge, it is distinct. All the kinds of hardy Smilax form handsome leafy creepers for walls, but in our climate they rarely produce the rich clusters of red berries that often render them so attractive abroad.

SOLANUM.--_S. jasminoides_ is the most popular flowering climber of the south-west, producing its white bloom-clusters for many months in succession. It is classed as deciduous in botanical dictionaries, but is rarely bare of leaves, except after severe frosts in the early months of the year. _S. crispum_ and _S. Wendlandi_ will also succeed in mild counties; the latter has very large bluish flowers.

STAUNTONIA LATIFOLIA (syn. _Holboellia latifolia_).--This plant bears clusters of small greenish-white, highly-fragrant flowers in March, and often perfects seed-pods in the autumn. It is a rapid grower, and its leathery leaves are rarely affected by frost.

STUARTIA PSEUDO-CAMELLIA.--A rare and very beautiful flowering shrub now seldom seen in even the best of gardens. It is a native of Japan, the flowers being ivory white and perfectly cup-shaped, somewhat like a single White Camellia. _S. pentagyna_ comes from North America, as also _S. virginica_, but the first-named is the finest and is worth a good deal of trouble to grow well. Planted in loam and peat and sand at the foot of a sunny and sheltered wall, the flowering shoots may be preserved intact during the winter. Perfect drainage is absolutely essential for the first-named.

TRICUSPIDARIA HEXAPETALA.--A very distinct and beautiful evergreen shrub, perhaps better known as _Crinodendron Hookeri_. It is a native of Chili, and grows 5 or 6 feet high, its stiff branches set with dark, shiny ovate leaves. The flowers are nearly globular, very fleshy, and rich crimson-red or cherry colour. In both co. Wicklow, at Mount Usher, and at Salerno, co. Dublin, this rare shrub is very luxuriant and beautiful. It grows well in deep, rich, moist loam or in peaty soils, and propagates readily by layers laid down under stones.

VIBURNUM.--Some of the Viburnums are handsome against walls, such as _V. macrocephalum_ and the Chinese _V. plicatum_.

VITIS (Vine).--The Vines are the most graceful and beautiful of all climbers, and many of them are of glorious colour in autumn. The Virginian Creepers (_Ampelopsis_) are now grouped with the Vines. Of the American Vines, _Vitis æstivalis_, _V. californica_, beautiful autumn colour; _V. cordifolia_, the Northern Fox Grape (_V. Labrusca_), Southern Fox Grape (_V. vulpina_). The Virginian Creeper (_V. quinquefolia_) is, as is generally known, very showy in autumn. Of the Asiatic Vines, _V. Coignetiæ_ is the most famous. It has very large leaves, which turn to a glowing crimson in autumn. It is a noble climber. _V. heterophylla humulifolia_ has beautiful fruit, each berry about the size of a pea and turquoise blue; it likes a warm, sunny wall. _V. (Ampelopsis) Veitchii_ is too well known to describe. _V. Romaneti_ and _V. vinifera_, the Common Grape Vine, also deserve notice. Of the last-mentioned there are many beautiful varieties, such as _Purpurea_, Miller's Burgundy, Teinturier, with claret-coloured foliage, and the Parsley-leaved Vine. _V. Thunbergi_ has very fine leaves, which turn crimson in autumn. The Vines should be seen in greater variety, and Messrs. Veitch's recent beautiful novelties planted too.

WISTARIA.--Wistaria time is a pleasant season of the year. A few noble examples may be seen in the suburbs of London, especially at Kew and Hampton Court, where the trees must be a great age, while quite a fine plant is in the Royal Gardens, Kew, also. What may be achieved with this plant if some attention to its needs were forthcoming is not clear, for most of the Wistarias we see from time to time shift for themselves, and by the position they occupy must have large numbers of their roots in dusty, dry soil. In former days it was always the custom to plant this fine climber at the base of the dwelling-house wall, but now, with a fuller knowledge of its robust growth, its widely-extending branches, and equally its wide-rooting capacity, other positions may with advantage be secured for it. One example may be seen at Kew, where a fine plant covers a huge cage-like structure. Another good way would be to plant it to run over pergolas, and with Clematis to succeed the Wistaria, the effect would be distinctly good. _W. sinensis_, the mauve-flowered species, is the one usually planted. The variety _alba_ is less robust, and does not flower so freely; it wants a warm place. The double variety is very beautiful when in perfection, but our experience is that it never flowers freely, and the raceme is often poor. _W. multijuga_ has very long racemes, and is the Wistaria which gives so much beauty to the gardens in Japan. It is always a pleasure in Wistaria time to visit the Royal Gardens, Kew, and see the exquisitely coloured trails of flowers on this species; these trails measure between 2 and 3 feet in length. Rosea is a rose-coloured variety.

FOOTNOTES:

[2] This also includes plants suitable for walls.