BROAD-LEAVED EVERGREENS 171 



for the close-climbing ivy and ampelopsis outline and emphasize 

 death, while the loose Virginia creeper transmutes and glorifies it. 

 Ivy will climb to the top of a tall castle in England, but in the 

 latitude of New York it attains only ten feet or so. 



The best evergreen climber for the North is the climbing 

 euonymus (especially the round-leaved form, variety vegetus), 

 and we ought to plant it by the million. Eventually its leaf ma] 

 be as dear to us as ivy is to Europe. For the euonymus is hardiei 

 than English ivy and has the immense advantage of red berries 

 that glow all winter. It is a Japanese plant which I predict will 

 become thoroughly Americanized. 



THE CARPETING EFFECT 



There are four ways of carpeting the ground in England with 

 evergreen creepers that thrive under trees and shrubs. The 

 classical effect is that of ivy, which we can reproduce even in New 

 England, where ivy cannot be grown as a climber. 



The second best effect is that of trailing myrtle (Fine a minor), 

 which has blue, five-lobed, waxy flowers, a specimen of which can 

 be picked almost any day in the year. Do not associate this with 

 cemeteries. It is used by the thousand on great estates in New 

 England, is quicker-growing than ivy, and better adapted to our 

 climate. 



Third, the London Pride (Saxifraga umbrosa) makes charming 

 rosettes and will grow in cold, wet clay in dark, narrow passages 

 between London houses. It may be unsuited to our climate, but 

 I hope many of my readers will try it on a small scale in various 

 situations, and I hereby ask some wealthy American to try to 

 carpet a forest floor with it, as the English do. 



Fourth, the Aaron's beard or the rose of Sharon often covers 



