174 BROAD-LEAVED EVERGREENS 



of dollars in moving century-old box to new gardens, should read 

 the articles on box that are referred to at the end of 

 this chapter. 



Ivy is, of course, the most precious climber or creeper grown 

 solely for foliage effect. It is common enough to see trained 

 pyramids of it in formal gardens, but I believe we shall never 

 achieve "garden magic" in that way, or by growing bay trees 

 in tubs. The bay tree is the laurel of the ancient poets (Laurus 

 nobilis) yet the sight of it does not thrill our hearts. Only free, 

 luxuriant growth, I believe, has sufficient power of 

 suggestion. 



Unexpected aid may come from the "hardy evergreen bam- 

 boo," for we should not think of all bamboos as "tropical." 

 Bamboos are merely tall grasses, and they fit our woods to per- 

 fection. Of the seven kinds that are hardy in the North, most 

 belong to the slender type of beauty, but there is one which 

 has as much body as a rhododendron. It may not be evergreen 

 north of Philadelphia, where I once saw a superb specimen that 

 was eight feet high. Nurserymen call it B ambus a Metake, but 

 its correct name is Arundinaria Japonica. As both names are 

 formidable, I once proposed that we call it the "broad-leaved 

 bamboo," for the leaf attains two by twelve inches. "Hardy 

 evergreen bamboo" is, however, quite as designative, and re- 

 veals its greatest value. 



The effect of this evergreen bamboo is somewhat like that 

 pictured on plate 67 and on plate 107. To realize the glory of such 

 a mass, you must know that it is considerably taller than a man. 

 Then make the leaves dark and lustrous, like a rhododendron, and 

 you will get some notion of the luxurious abandon with which every- 

 thing grows at Gravetye, the home of William Robinson, prophet 



