Clematis

“ The clematis, mingling its foliage secretly with its host, comes down with the stream tangles to the village fences, skips over to corners of little used pasture lands and the plantations that spring up about waste water pools; but never ventures a footing in the trail of spade or plough; will not be persuaded to grow in any garden plot. ”

“ A thicket of damask and white roses, lilac trees, and clusters of pale-blue clematis, with a wealth of other flowers, luxuriate beneath, where they receive just enough of the warm and rich sunshine that flashed through the woven shades upon them in the morning, and of the scented dew-drops which the wind shakes from the leaves above at nightfall, to make them the most beautiful flower-plot in all the neighborhood. ”

“ Clematis paniculata comes more freely from seed than the Jackmanni strains, and should be largely grown, as it is one of our loveliest vines and blooms when most others have ceased. Clematis flammula self-sows and established little plants are continually coming up in unexpected places, which may be removed to any desired position, as this variety does not in the least mind being disturbed. All Clematis are benefited by winter protection, and such varieties as Ramona and other spring bloomers should have the tops protected with sacking or old carpet. ”

“ I have wondered about that name, Clematis. Her mother loved flowers. She loved the clematis vine about the door most of all.”
“I suppose she named Clematis in memory of her dear old home,” said Miss Rose.
Then Mr. Brooks told Miss 242 Rose about the white house on the hill.
“I suppose we ought to move back there, now,” he said. “Then Clematis can go to the Union School, and grow up like other children.”
“It is wonderful. It is a fairy story, I am sure,” she replied, “for the fairies must have led Clematis to your door. She will be the happiest child alive, when we tell her.” ”

“ Clematis hung her head. The tears came into her eyes.
“Don’t cry, Clematis,” said Miss Rose. “Just tell Mrs. Snow what it is, and perhaps we can make it all right again.”
“What was it, little girl?” asked Mrs. Snow, as she drew her nearer.
“It was mine, I found it first,” sobbed Clematis.
“Yes, but you must remember that if we find a thing, that does not make it ours. We must find the true owner, and give it back. That is the only honest thing to do.” 85
“What was it you found?” asked Miss Rose. ”

“ In the wild clematis (C. vitalba) —that kind which runs so freely over hedges and thickets in the southern counties, adorning the country in winter with snowy tufts of feathers, formed by its seed-vessels—a part of the stalk between two pair of the leaflets forms this twist; whilst in the sweet-scented garden-clematis, other parts of the stem give the support: but it is always by means of some portion or other of this member, that plants of this tribe are sustained in their rapid and extensive climbing. ”

“ Clematis campaniflora, with flowers like a campanula, and of a pale purplish hue, and the beautiful white Clematis montana grandiflora, a native of Nepaul, are almost equally beautiful, and many others of the family are worthy of a place, rambling over old trees, bushes, hedgerows, or tangling over banks. These single wild species of Clematis are more graceful than the large Hybrids now common; they are very hardy and free. ”

“ Upon the table were lying the two purple clematis flowers, backed by a spray of their own foliage and tied with the tendrils of the plant. Deleah recalled the repulsion with which she had seen them lying there. She put out her hand towards them, but drew it back. She could not touch them even now.
To each of us, however mean our lives and obscure our history, living or dead, the moment of triumph comes. ”

“ Poor clematis! it is sick at heart. Its thin, bare{164} stalk shivers mournfully as this golden afternoon begins to turn a little grey with the chill wind of evening.
Ah, if only he had said he was sorry! If only he had said that he knew it was wrong, but that the flesh was weak! If only he had even contemplated the step, which to some extent undoes the wrong that has been done, I do not think the clematis would have shed a single one of its purple stars. All of us, saints or sinners, do dreadful things, the memory of which is sufficient to make us long to sink into the earth for shame. ”

“ So Clematis wandered round by the fence till she came to a sunny spot, near the big maple tree with the red buds.
Here she picked up a dead twig and sat down, turning over the dried leaves with the twig, and throwing them in the air.
As she picked up the leaves, she saw some blades of grass beneath them.
Then she picked up more leaves, and found many blades of grass growing beneath their warm shelter. 75
Clematis got up and walked near the fence, where the leaves were thicker. There she poked them away, and found longer blades of grass, and new leaves, green and shiny. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In the woods were tiny twin flowers, golden arnica growing high above the forest floor, and clematis with lovely purple blossoms, festooning with its vines the shrubs and logs and lower branches of trees. The Indian called clematis “Ghost’s Lariat,” because it catches people and trips them up in the dark.
In the forest the largest trees were Engelmann spruce and Douglas fir, growing in scattered groups, some one hundred feet in height. But the chief tree was the lodge-pole pine, tall, slender, and clean-shafted. ”

“ Ranunculaceae.) (the Clematis-like plant told me by Oliver) , to try and propagate me a plant at once. Have you Clematis cirrhosa? It will amuse me to tell you why Clematis interests me, and why I should so very much like to have Naravelia. The leaves of Clematis have no spontaneous movement, nor have the internodes; but when by growth the peduncles of leaves are brought into contact with any object, they bend and catch hold. The slightest stimulus suffices, even a bit of cotton thread a few inches long ”

“ Every one knows the wild white clematis, which is beautiful in blossom, and almost as fine when its seeds are ripened. It abounds in our fields, and bears transplantation easily. The new kinds, or those comparatively new, deserve to be better known. ”

“ The Alpine Clematis differs from the cultivated species in climbing but rarely. The plants are usually but a few inches high and bear very ornamental lavender or purple-blue flowers. Under favorable conditions they may clamber over shrubs for a few feet. They are found in open forest and woodland at 7000-10000 ft. The flowers open in spring and early summer and are visited by insects for the plentiful pollen, though they contain no honey. Like the cultivated species, the seed-like fruits have long feathery styles which form silvery clusters. ”

“ Don’t you know you might have fallen and killed yourself?”
Clematis wiped her eyes on her sleeve.
“Oh, that’s nothing,” she said, “I had hold of the blind all the time. I couldn’t fall.”
“Now, Clematis, no child ever did such a thing before, and you must never, never, do it again. Do you understand?”
“Yes’m.”
“Do you promise?”
“Yes’m.” ”

“ Rocky Mountain columbine against the willow hedge, with perennial candytuft as edging.
We leave the garden through a wooden arch. Climbing over one side of this is a Thousandschon rose, and on the other side a Dr. Van Fleet grows rank. A wild clematis is planted beside each rose and fills the top of the arch. I am rather dubious about the combination, for I fear the clematis may grow so heavy that it will choke out the roses, but this summer at least it was beautiful, and another summer will come to try other combinations.
[Pg 455]
Truck Crop and Garden Insects. ”

“ Fig. 7.—Carpels of the Clematis Vitalba.
The plants composing the genus Atragenè have been separated from Clematis; because they are said to have petals, which the genus Clematis has not. It must not, however, be supposed that the petals of the Atragenè bear25 any resemblance to what is generally understood by that word. On the contrary, the showy part of the Atragenè is still only a coloured calyx; while the petals are oblong, leaf-like bodies in the centre of the flower, which look like dilated stamens. In other respects the two genera are scarcely to be distinguished from each other. ”

“ When the Delphiniums are over, the rapidly forming seed-pods are removed, the stems are cut down to just the right height, and the white Peas are trained over them. When the Peas go out of bloom in the middle of August, the Clematis is brought over. It takes some years for these two plants to become established; in the case of those I am describing the54 Pea has been four or five years planted and the Clematis seven. They cannot be hurried, indeed in my garden it is difficult to get the Clematis to grow at all. But good gardening means patience and dogged determination. ”

“ Blueberry pie and cheese, hot biscuit and fresh milk, and golden butter, all she wanted; surely, Sally never had any supper better than this.
The shadows were falling, and the August crickets were beginning their evening concert, when Clematis had eaten the last bit of pie on her plate.
“The Sand Man is coming, I do believe,” said Mr. Alder, as he reached over to pinch her cheek.
“Well, I don’t wonder, the trip was a long one for a little girl. You shall go right to bed, Clematis.” ”

“ Her dear Deborah was rubbing a cold nose against her cheek, and 138 purring how glad she was to see her.
Clematis smoothed and patted her a long time, as she lay purring close by her side.
After that, Deborah came up often, and lay there on the bed, while Miss Rose sewed by the window.
“What are you sewing?” asked Clematis one day, when she was well enough to sit up.
“What do you suppose?”
“It looks like a dress.”
“That’s just what it is. It’s a new dress for a little girl to wear to the country.” ”

“ The seed vessels should be gathered before autumn, and stored in some dry, cool place till the following spring, when the seeds they contain may be sown in light, sandy soil, and placed in gentle heat till they germinate. By layers outside, put in at any time. All the varieties of clematis may also be readily increased « 164 » by cuttings made of the young shoots, which may be cut up to every eye and planted in gentle heat. Also by grafting any of the varieties on portions of clematis roots in winter. Good healthy pieces of root obtained from old plants answer the purpose well. ”

“ In three years the Roses have grown above the second-story windows.
Clematis paniculata, with its delicate foliage and mass of starry bloom in early autumn, is particularly good to plant by veranda posts in connection with other vines. It grows luxuriantly and is absolutely hardy. The large white-flowered Henryi and purple-flowered Jackmani Clematis, though of slow growth, should always have a place, either about a veranda, a summer-house or a trellis, for the sake of their beautiful flowers. ”

“ By no means limited to the desert, Clematis is found throughout the Southwest. Several species are grown as ornamentals, foliage, flower clusters and the cotton-like masses of hairy fruits all being effective. Petals are absent or rudimentary, the sepals which furnish color to the blossoms being either creamy or purplish-brown. ”

“ Jane kept her promise, and while the lilacs lasted, they used to go often to their secret place and smell the fragrance of the blossoms.
The first of July, some of the girls began to start for their vacations in the country.
Now it was harder than ever for Clematis to stick to her work. She kept thinking of the beautiful fields, when she should have been thinking of numbers. 103
“I don’t know what we are going to do with you, Clematis,” said Miss Rose one day.
“You do try hard sometimes. You have learned to make beds well. You are a good girl about your clothes, morning and night. ”

“ The Clematis is always effective and is the best vine of medium growth in existence. Its small, white, star-shaped flowers, deliciously fragrant, cover the vine completely in August. The Japanese Clematis or Paniculata is most attractive. It prefers a sunny position, the foliage is handsome and at the end of August it bursts into a wonderful mass of fragrant, pure white, star-like flowers that last nearly a month. ”

“ Clematis thought a moment.
“I should like to help Katie in the kitchen. She must need some little girl.”
Miss Rose smiled. “If Clematis can get down into the kitchen, she can see her kitten,” she thought. “She is a sly little puss herself.”
“I don’t think you could go down tonight, but if you are a good girl I am sure Katie will want you to help her before long.” ”

“ There was a tiny kitchen, with a tiny stove and tiny kettles, all just like your own house. It was enough to make any girl happy.
It was so much fun that Clematis forgot to be sad, and was not ready to leave the doll house 32 when the bell rang once more. It was bedtime.
“That is the sleepy bell,” said Jane, closing the door to the doll house, and running toward the stairs.
Clematis was at the end of the row, as the girls went out of the playroom, and Miss Rose spoke as she passed through the door. ”