EVERGREENS IN THE LANDSCAPE 15 



ever, these factors do not render easier the problem of effective 

 planting. 



A study of the characteristics of coniferous evergreens from 

 the point of view of art, the art of arranging them in landscape 

 pictures, shows them full of contrasts. Although the foliage is 

 small and narrow, it is so dense that the effect is not feathery, 

 but heavy and solid. There is great difference between the 

 texture effect of tamarix and cedar, yet the latter has the finer 

 foliage. Only the pale greens of the deciduous conifers (larch 

 and bald-cypress) and extreme forms of some chamsecyparis 

 give a light touch to the picture. The density of the dark 

 foliage is increased by the regular formal outline of most species 

 and the regular structure in the placing of the branches. There 

 is no more unrelated object on a peaceful lawn than a blue 

 spruce, and two are twice as lonesome. The more irregular the 

 outhne and broken the branching, the easier the task of 

 grouping, except for special effects. The dense, tense attitude 

 of most conifers makes them difficult subjects to handle. If 

 only they could be dented inwards in places, and pulled out in 

 others, they would be much more companionable among their 

 fellows. Each specimen is so complete and perfect in itself 

 that only when old age has robbed it of its symmetry does it 

 become a subject for consideration as an object of art in the 

 landscape. 



In color, the normal dark shining green shows less range 

 than do the greens of deciduous trees. Their color value to the 

 camera is much the same in all species. Gray-greens in pine, 

 blue-greens in spruce and fir, white lines on the under side of 

 fir and hemlock leaves, give variety in detail that can be 

 appreciated only at close hand. Unfortunately, freak colors 

 are found in horticultural varieties in a range more than suf- 

 ficient. Intense blue, bright yellow, pale silvery green, and 



