Page:The Amateur's Greenhouse and Conservatory.djvu/195

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a few trailing and climbing plants have been already treated of, but it is time we gave them a little attention as constituting a distinct class, possessing certain characteristics in common. And it may be proper in the first place to remark upon their importance as elements in the furniture of a plant-house. It is simply impossible without their aid to produce the rich effect of a covered garden which we look for in a conservatory, and the lack of which fills us with a sense of coldness and opportunity wasted. It matters not how well the borders, stages, and other parts near the ground line of the structure, may be furnished, the eye will travel upwards, and if pillars and roof are alike unclothed, the feeling that there is something wanting will be painful. On the other hand, a judicious selection of twining and climbing plants will not only fill up a void, but present forms of beauty distinct in many respects from those that characterise the plants of the ground line. The lovely tracery of a tacsonia or lapageria seen against the sky as the plant follows the lines of the roof is a feature of the highest value, and the necessity for it increases with every advance in the dimensions and pretensions of the conservatory requiring to be furnished.

Coming to practical matters we are bound to say that small plant houses devoted chiefly to working purposes should not be cumbered with climbing plants at all. If they thrive they will be in the way, and will impede the light, but as they must be grown in pots, the probability is that they will not thrive, and that is a fatal reason for avoiding them. Having blown hot and cold with the same breath, we proceed to remark that as a rule, climbers should always be planted in borders or not at all, but we feel bound to admit that we have grown many fine examples of first rate plants of this class and have seen