CONIFEROUS EVERGREENS 61 



OLD-WORLD CYPRESSES 



For the formal effects made famous by the beautiful gardens 

 of the Orient and Italy there are the Italian and Roman Cypresses, 

 Cupressus sempervirens {C.Jastigiatd) and the far-famed Cupressus 

 funebris so extensively used in the temple courts of China. Both 

 of these varieties are of easy and rapid growth and adapt them- 

 selves readily to the various soils. Their leaves are very dehcate 

 and the coloring is deep and rich, but not dark enough to prove 

 somber. Single specimens of these trees planted close to the 

 boundary lines of a brick or stucco house add dignity and grace 

 and carry the formal architectural lines of the building into the 

 harmony of the garden plan. 



The most erect and shaft-like of the Cypresses are Cupressus 

 sempervirens pyramidalis and C. sempervirens royalii^ the latter 

 being the most columnar and erect of all. They grow straight 

 upward and vary very little in diameter. Even though they 

 attain a height of from sixty feet to eighty feet the diameter never 

 exceeds four feet or five feet at the base and at the widest part of 

 the tree. They are wonderfully beautiful and most graceful in their 

 stately loftiness as they sway rhythmically in the wandering 

 breezes that bend them to and fro all through the year. 



Edwin Neuhaus says, in speaking of the beauty secured at 

 the Panama-Pacific Exposition by the Cypress trees transplanted 

 from the old Spanish Missions of CaHfornia, that if he had the 

 making of California's laws he would require every householder 

 to plant at least six Cypress trees, not only for the beauty and 

 grace they would give to the present generation, but for the joy 

 they would pass on to those who grow up in the coming years. 

 Not quite so stringent a regulation would I urge, but for the 

 privileged sections, able to grow these trees, not to do so is neglect 

 of opportunity. They not only enable the planter to stress the 

 formal evergreen note in his garden detail and to bridge the gap 

 between the rigid lines of building and the softer lines of the 

 garden scheme, but they introduce a note of permanency into 

 the wonderful color harmonies that are strong in most southern 

 gardens throughout the year. 



