Evergreens for Formal Situations— By w. e. Pendleton 



New 

 York 



THE BEST SPECIES FOR FORMAL GARDENS, WINDOW BOXES, MASSING AT ENTRANCES AND BEDDING— 

 THE BEST YELLOW, BLUE AND OTHER COLORS IN EACH TYPE, SUCH AS YEW, CEDAR, JUNIPER, ETC. 



Photographs by Henry Troth, H. E. Angell and L. Barron 



IN an impossible city like New York, where 

 every foot of ground is likely to be cov- 

 ered by stone, and a hole has to be cut in the 

 pavement for every tree or vine, the universal 



54. A formal garden of evergreens which looks 

 attractive every day of the year, from the dining-room 

 of a Yonhers home. Designed by Pentecost & Vitale 



instinct toward something natural has ex- 

 pressed itself in countless hundreds of window 

 boxes. In the summer, there is the con- 

 ventional line of florist's stuff — geraniums, 

 variegated periwinkle and other greenhouse 

 plants; but in the winter every great house, 

 club and hotel has its tubs, vases or window 

 boxes of evergreens. It must be confessed 

 that these stately plants often fit perfectly 

 and add greatly to the distinction of a city 

 home, but the slaughter among these inno- 

 cents is heart-breaking. Every November 

 they are at their best ; the following May their 

 return to the florist is like a retreat to Harbin. 

 Next autumn new checks are drawn and the 

 purveyor of evergreens once more takes a 

 hopeful view of life. 



The city servant's method of watering 

 plants — fitful moments of zeal alternating 

 with long intervals of neglect — is enough to 

 account for more than half of this loss. More- 

 over, they are mostly in plants imported from 

 Holland at a price with which Americans 

 cannot compete ; and they are chiefly varieties 

 of Lawson's cypress (Chamcecyparis Law- 

 soniana), and other notoriously tender species 



which can be grown with incredible ease, 

 speed and cheapness. 



The mortality is sufficiently high to war- 

 rant a study of the decorative conifers that are 

 really hardy, so that one may order these 

 things intelligently, especially as these same 

 plants are now much used for massing at 

 entrances, for lawn specimens, for beds and 

 for formal gardens. 



There are two theories about the use of 

 these highly colored evergreens. One is that 

 you may use them in all the places above 

 mentioned and scatter them all over your 

 yard, too; and the other is that such horti- 

 cultural varieties, having originated in the 

 garden, should be confined to the garden 

 along with other highly artificial products 

 that do not fit in with the landscape. The 

 nurseryman usually takes the former view 

 (he has them to sell), and the paradise of those 



55. An evergreen alley on an American estate, 

 showing hedge, arch and specimens of arborvitae 



56. The best example of topiary worK in America 

 — a style of gardening not adapted to a country where 

 estates are not entailed. The Hunnewell garden at 

 Wellesley, Mass. 



who think that yellow, blue and bronze 

 conifers may be used in carpet bedding is 

 Newport, where more money has been spent 

 on gardening with less taste than on any 

 place of equal size in the world. 



If you try to select these plants for your 

 window box or garden from the nursery 

 catalogue, you will probably get involved in 

 a maze of Latin names and give it up in 

 despair. The best way is to go to a nursery 

 and see the things. But for those who can- 

 not do this, we will point out some of the stan- 

 dard material of known hardiness, giving 

 the English language the preference — a 

 reprehensible innovation in horticultural 

 literature, apparently — with the standard 

 and nursery names in parentheses. 



THE ARBORVITAE TYPE 



The best yellow one is George Peabody's 

 golden arborvitae {Thuya occidentatis, var. 

 hi tea). Most yellow evergreens look as if 

 they didn't mean it. (They are usually a 

 sickly, pale yellow, except in the catalogues). 

 This one is, or ought to be, a good, hearty 

 golden yellow. 



28 



The globe arborvitae (T. occidentatis, var. 

 globosa, or compacta globosa) is probably the 

 best small button. About two feet high. 



For globes five feet in circumference, 

 Booth's is probably better (T. occidentatis, 

 var. Boothi). 



The best columnar variety is the Siberian 

 (T. occidentatis, var. Wareana, or Sibirica), 

 which stays pure green all winter instead of 

 acquiring a dull brown hue, like the common 

 arborvitae. 



THE YEW TYPE 



None of the European yews (Taxus baccata) 

 are sufficiently hardy. 



The best substitute for the Irish yew is 

 either the Korean Cephalotaxus pednnculata 

 {Podocarpus Koreana), or the Japanese 

 Taxus cuspidata. 



THE JUNIPER TYPE 



The best substitute for the Irish juniper 

 is the Swedish (/. communis, var. Suecica), 

 columnar, but not quite as compact as the 

 Irish juniper, which is not hardy enough. 



The best bluish juniper, J. Virginiana, 

 var. glanca. 



The best for Japanese effects, /. Vir- 

 giniana, var. tripartita. 



THE SPRUCE TYPE 



The common ones are all varieties of the 

 Norway spruce (Picea excelsa). 



The best globular one, var. compacta. 



The best columnar form, var. pyramidalis. 



The best small cone, var. Remontii of the 

 nurseries. 



57. One of the many small old-fashioned box- 

 bordered gardens for which Camden, S. C, is noted 



