BROAD-LEAVED EVERGREEN SHRUBS FOR THE SOUTH 



By F. L. Mulford 



T N passing from northern Canada southward, there is a 

 '- transition from forests composed almost entirely of 

 coniferous evergreens to those in which there are a large 

 proportion of deciduous trees, while along the Gulf of 

 Mexico many broad-leaved evergreens are found mingled 

 with the others. Where the country is covered almost ex- 

 clusively by coniferous evergreens the firs and spruces 

 largely predominate. When the latitude is reached where 

 many deciduous trees are to be found the pines and hem- 

 locks become the more prominent species, but where 

 the broad-leaved evergreens appear plentifully in the na- 

 tive vegetation only a few species of coniferous trees are 

 to be found. 



Wise planters observe these natural tendencies and 

 adapt their planting schemes with these facts in mind. 

 The style of the design and the purpose of the planting 

 is of course of major importance, but on the other hand 

 all plant material must be adapted to the place where it 

 is to be grown in order for it to succeed. If a strictly 

 formal planting is to be made the natural conditions 

 may often be so modified that entirely dififerent plants 

 may be grown than could be grown under the usual con- 

 ditions of the immediate neighborhood. Formal land- 



scape design presupposes adequate gardening attention 

 and skill in maintenance so that unusual plants for the 

 neighborhood may be successfully grown where it is more 

 appropriate for the effect 'to be produced that these should 

 be used. On the other hand, where only a minimum of 

 care or skill is available for maintenance then informal 

 design with native and other easily handled material is 

 almost imperative. 



There are many intermediate gradations of relation- 

 ship between the strictly formal design with strictly for- 

 mal plantings and the informal design with informal 

 plantings as for example the formal design in which the 

 details of the plantings are informal. In spite of the 

 plantings in such a design being designated as informal 

 they must have much more attention than informal 

 plantings in an informal design. Ajlthough a spirit of in- 

 formality is admissable in such plantings, on the other 

 hand the plants are closely associated with formal lines 

 and therefore may not become too rampant for their loca- 

 tion and yet on the other hand must not lag unduly or 

 there is an apparent gap that spoils 'the effect. Although 

 less work is required to maintain such plantings than 

 strictly formal ones a high degree of intelligence is needed 



AN OLD-FASHIONED GARDEN WITH BOX-EDGED WALKS 



The dwarf box is intimately associated in the common mind with the delightful old-fashioned gardens found on so many of the 

 old colonial homes in the South, where it is almost invariably found edging the fragrant, spicy flower beds. 



