Trailing plants make corners attractive

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34106, 19 March 1976, Page 16

Trailing plants make corners attractive

Vines and trailing plants are ideal fori brightening odd corners of the house, for covering pillars, in hanging baskets, as draping to create a softening effect, or perhaps for growing in pots on wall brackets. There is a good range to choose from and described briefly here are three that are unfussy and easy to grow. For a really uncomplicated plant to grow it would be hard to go past Plectranthus fruticosus. It is not only simple to handle but grows quickly and can be raised just as effortlessly. Despite its accommodating habits it is a plant which can be well recommended

with its blue flowers, round shining green leaves and long trailing stems whichturn up attractively at the ■ ! tips. It likes plenty of water |in the summer and rather' | less in winter unless the iroom temperature is high. Although having a preference for shade it will tolerate a sunny position pro-i , vided the soil is kept moist. I lit can be raised from cut-1 tings, a scm tin cutting will' root in a few days. 1 Ceropegia, which belongs! to the same familv as Hoya. ;has a number of common! ! names, but perhaps Rosary I 'Vine, is the most familiar one; others include Hearts! [Entangled. Sweetheart Vine! and Hearts-on-a-string. There are at least a dozen: species but C. woodii wouldbe one of the most popular i ilt has fleshy, heart-shaped leaves, about 20mm long, which grow in pairs along r he stem. These will vary in colour! depending on whether thevl are grown in sun or shade.: white or bronze in bright, positions, marbled white or green in shade. It hears i small, odd shaped, pinkish purple flowers. Although C. woodii is I usually grown as a trailing I.vine, sometimes attaining a length of 3.5 m or more, it; can also be grown upwards: on a trellis. When the plant becomes fully established it' develops tubers which form’ along the vines and these lean be used for propagating! new’ plants. A light loam or peat moss and sand provides the best rooting medium. Only moderate watering is required and it is especially neces-j sary not to over water in; the early stages. . Kenilworth ivy, Cymbalaria muralis, is not really an ivy, but a relative of the snapdragon. Although it is perhaps more likely to be associated with outdoor planting, particularly rock walls, it will grow just as easily from a hanging basket jor in a jar of water, i It has tiny leaves andIsmail lilac blue flowers like! a snapdragon and will grow)

equally well in full sun or and young plants can be: partial shade. It seeds freely! readily raised from them.