CHAPTER XI 



EVERGREEN TREES AND SHRUBS. 



IN no class of outdoor plants is our indebtedness to the floras of other 

 countries so evident as in the case of hardy evergreens. The broad- 

 leaved evergreens, as distinct from conifers, represent a type of vegetation 

 which is essentially a tropical and subtropical one. As one gets farther 

 from the equator their gradual displacement by deciduous vegetation and 

 conifers becomes more and more marked. In Great Britain we have the 

 box, the holly, the yew, the Scotch pine, common juniper, gorse, various 

 heaths and other low shrubs, and the ivy. In S.W. Ireland these have a 

 remarkable addition in Arbutus Unedo, the strawberry tree. 



Conifers and dwarf, small-leaved evergreens of the heather, crowberry, 

 and Vaccinium type are some of the hardiest plants of the globe. But 

 most of the choice evergreens of the garden type broad-leaved trees, or 

 shrubs too tall to be covered by snow in winter are dependent for their 

 welfare on two conditions, viz., an equable climate and an abundance of 

 moisture at the root and in the atmosphere. They will always be found 

 most abundant, both in nature and under cultivation, where the rainfall is 

 greatest and the climate free from great extremes of heat and cold. Our 

 islands, especially on the western side, afford conditions better adapted 

 to their cultivation than perhaps any other part of northern Europe of 

 similar extent. Japan with its insular -climate, and westerns. America, 

 bathed with moisture from the Pacific, are both singularly rich in 

 evergreens. 



Four of our native evergreens still hold a position of supremacy in 

 spite of the number of their foreign rivals. These are the holly, yew, box, 

 and ivy, each of which fills a place in gardens no exotic evergreen could 

 occupy. With regard to the ivy, it is a singular fact that it is still not 

 only the best, but practically the only genuinely hardy climbing evergreen. 

 The scarcity of evergreen climbers in gardens has been but little relieved 

 by recent exploration in China and elsewhere. Their meagre number 

 in cool temperate regions is even more marked than that of bushy 

 evergreens. 



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