20 THE CULTIVATED EVERGREENS 



bloom or autumn leaf, crab-apple in flower or fruit, golden 

 stems of willow — for the main mass of the picture is the change- 

 less composition of the evergreens, enlightened by the gift of 

 the seasons from the deciduous tree or trees. Special plantings 

 of all kinds — azaleas, lilacs, lilies, peonies, irises — acquire 

 double value when inclosed and framed by perpetual walls of 

 dark green. A small planting thus set off may have a quantity 

 and quality that a larger one unframed, or seen against sky, 

 cannot possess. After the brief period of bloom, the glory goes 

 back to the evergreens, and the spot is full of beauty. 



By nature all evergreens, except cedar of Lebanon, Japanese 

 umbrella-pine, Monterey cypress, and a few similar relics of 

 older eras, are forest trees somewhere. Most of them, however, 

 are seen as landscape specimens, in solitary grandeur upon a 

 lawn. For this special use their many virtues decidedly fit 

 them, and when placed so as to bear some relation to other 

 objects, their symmetrical sweep of branches renders them as 

 complete in themselves as a Greek temple or statue. These 

 conifers are, then, related to other objects, but not strictly 

 grouped with anything, and when old age turns their symmetry 

 into irregularity they have still a classic appeal. 



Since their shape is so definite and permanent, coniferous 

 evergreens are eminently suited to formal work of all kinds, 

 and the size of material, from Tom Thumb arbor-vitae to 

 Austrian pine, can fit the scale of the design. The dignity and 

 repose of a formal scheme is greatly increased by evergreen 

 material, and the topiary art can assist nature. Here, again, 

 the plants are not grouped, in the proper sense of the word, but 

 are placed and spaced as the development of the design re- 

 quires, living plants treated as geometrical forms, or solids for 

 horticultural architecture. Since gardens were builded, ever- 

 greens have furnished the opaque solids. 



