XIX 



EVERGREENS 



EvEEGKEENS have their place in landscape 

 gardening and should be employed wherever 

 they look well and do well. The difficulty is 

 that they are a little sluggish in their habits, owing 

 to the fact that they retain their foliage for so 

 long a period. Some of them are hard to trans- 

 plant, others are peculiarly sensitive to cold in 

 early spring when warm days and hot winds suc- 

 ceeded by cold blasts will chill the sap and brown 

 the evergreen foliage in an hour. In other words, 

 they are handicapped by their leaves. 



The function of evergreens in the landscape 

 is to give a warm and agreeable appearance of 

 foliage in winter and to diversify and strengthen 

 the character of the landscape in summer. 



To accomplish this it is especially necessary 

 to mass evergreens together; to isolate them from 

 deciduous trees; to concentrate and cumulate 

 their effect. The tones of their color should be 

 studied and blended in groups. The different 

 shades of green should be brought together and 

 the bright yellows and shining blues used spar- 

 ingly, if at all. Decorative effect in borders, 

 window boxes, etc., admit of other and more 

 artificial effects. 



[82] 



