220 CLIMBERS 



feel our way more cautiously before training climbers upon 

 conifers. 



CLIMBERS ON EVERGREEN TREES 



The English often allow ivy to grow up Scotch pine and 

 Norway spruce, but this seems altogether too strong a contrast in 

 form and texture. And there is an even greater danger the 

 danger of destroying the symmetry of an evergreen tree. How 

 foolish it would be to grow any climber on Colorado spruce or 

 con color fir! For a branch lost by a conifer can never be replaced, 

 and therefore the whole game is to keep evergreens symmetrical as 

 long a time as possible. 



On the other hand some of the evergreens we plant the most 

 are the first to lose their symmetry, e. g., Scotch and Austrian pine, 

 Norway spruce, silver fir, and arborvitae. English conifers, as a 

 rule, look happy; ours do not. They soon get thin and ragged. 

 Why should we not conceal the defects of these thin trees that 

 have lost their lower branches? 



What does nature do? She sometimes throws a veil of wild 

 clematis over pitch pine, and on Long Island, Mr. Hicks tells me, 

 she sends scarlet honeysuckle up the red cedars. In Japan, she 

 trains wistarias on her giant pines. 



In English gardens I saw a very good effect from wistaria on 

 yew, which we could reproduce on hemlock. At Gravetye I saw 

 Mr. Robinson's famous combination clematis on yew. And 

 there, I believe, is the principle that should guide us. If we grow 

 climbers upon conifers, let us choose what Mr. Robinson calls the 

 "lace workers," not the kinds with big, showy flowers. Jackman's 

 clematis would doubtless be a failure in every way. What we 

 want is fleecy clouds of small white flowers, such as we can get 

 from Clematis paniculata and Virginiana. There are also two 



