FLOWERS AND BRICKS [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Lady
Seton in her excellent article suggests that where long stretches of dead wall exist, enclosing railway depots, etc., creepers should be planted. The difficulty is the obvious one of protecting them from damage. I dealt with such a wall very successfully some fourteen years ago. It is a wall at the foot of the approach to Dartford Railway Station, and abuts right on to a very busy street and is 100 yards long by 30 feet high. I grew in pots several plants of Ampelopsis till they were 12 feet high, and then planted them inside the works wall and carried the top ends through a hole 9 feet above street level to the outside. These have all done splendidly except two, and their death after about nine years was due to someone carelessly cementing the floor inside right up to the stems, thus preventing access of air and water.—I am, Sir, &c.,
EVERARD HESKETH.
Beacheroft, Eltham, S.E.9.
Previous page
