472 



THE NATURE BOOK 



of leaves and flowers that never fails, 

 although it may falter. And how we 

 should value these verdant links that weld 

 the garden girdle in its weakest parts ! 

 Yet apart from their quality as firm 

 forgers of a faltering chain, evergreens 

 have an innate charm, an intrinsic \-alue. 

 Take, for instance, the Common Iv}^ 

 that will clothe a hundred ugly objects 

 in the garden with persistent leaves, 

 varying greatly in form and in shades 

 of colour ; some of the smaller-leaved 

 Ivies have exquisitely carved foliage in 

 most attractive colouring. 



When to the merit of persisting leaves 

 is added the charm of brilliant berries, 

 then we have a plant of inestimable value 

 in the garden in winter. Most common, 

 yet perhaps most beautiful of all, is the 

 Fi ret horn that covers countless houses 

 with glossy leaves and glowing berries 

 of orange and orange-red — berries that 

 take on their richest colouring when 

 sunlight wanes at the fall of the year. 



Take, again, the Mountain Ash, that is 

 happily more commonly planted in streets 

 and roads nowadays ; it is not e\-ergreen, 

 it is true, but how its red fruits glow in 

 the winter sunshine ! Then the Rock- 

 sprays are quite a host in themselves, and 

 the garden in winter could iU afford to 

 lose them. They vary in size from the 

 miniature Microphylla — that will creep 

 along the ground as though filled with 

 affection for the garden soil, or climb a 

 low wall, while in winter it dapples its 

 tiny leaves with crimson berries — to the 

 favourite Simoni which grows six feet high 

 or more, forming a big bush clothed 

 in winter with bright red fruits. Other 

 berry-bearing shrubs that give beauty to 

 the winter garden are the Hollies — the red 

 and the yellow berried ; Aucuba, with 

 green and with variegated leaves and 

 scarlet fruits ; the Partridge Berry, whose 

 drooping white flowers in summer are 

 followed by large red berries ; the 

 neglected Pernettya, a South American 

 evergreen that bears most attractive 

 berries in many sliades of colour — purple, 

 rose, pink, and white. These are plants 

 to grow near the house, within full \-icw 

 of the windows. What even ran the 

 summer garden show more strikingly 

 handsome than a large bush of the 

 Sea Buckthorn, whose grey leaves them- 



selves possess much quiet beauty, and 

 in winter only peep out here and there 

 between gorgeous yellow berries ? The 

 yellow-fruited Yew ; the common Snow- 

 berry, so prolific of its large white berries ; 

 the Japanese Skimmia, a most cheerful 

 little shrub with beautiful bright red 

 fruits — these and the Strawberry Tree 

 of Killarney, together with Mistletoe, 

 are to the winter garden what gaudy 

 flowers are to the garden in summer. 

 The StrawbeiTy Tree bears large fruits, 

 quaintly described by Gerarde as "of a 

 gallant red colour, in taste somewhat 

 harsh, and in a manner without any 

 relish, of which thrushes and blackbirds 

 do feed in winter." The botanical name 

 of the Strawberry Tree is Arbutus Unedo : 

 the specific name Unedo is said to have 

 been given for the reason that if you 

 ate one you would certainly never eat 

 another ! 



Just as most plants owe their charm to 

 brilliant bloom and some to handsome 

 leaves or fruits, so others are valued chiefly 

 or solely on account of their beautiful 

 stems, and these play an important part 

 in the winter garden, of which they are 

 rightly regarded as among the chief 

 ornaments. Even from a distance, when 

 massed in a large group, they strike a 

 note of rich colour in the wan landscape. 

 They are seen to greatest advantage when 

 planted bj' the edge of pond or lake, so 

 that the water surface may reflect their 

 shadows when the pale gleams of winter 

 sunshine reach them. Most striking of 

 all plants distinguished by the beauty of 

 their stems is the Moonlight Bramble, 

 with gaunt prickly shoots that appear as 

 though a limewash brush had passed over 

 them ; there is no more fascinating, if 

 somewhat eerie, spot in the garden on a 

 winter's night than where the Moonlight 

 Bramble grows. Plant it in front of a 

 group of Hollies, and an exquisite winter 

 scene results. Attractive leaves, brilliant 

 berries, and beautiful stems, are here — 

 the three most v^alued characteristics of 

 the winter garden. Some of the \\'illt)ws 

 and Dogwoods have finely coloured stems, 

 bright red and glowing yellow. 



There is rich beauty too in the reeds 

 and grasses that cluster at the margin of 

 the lake ; frail and withered, yet graceful 

 still, they flutter in the faintest wind^ 



