>Bearberry spreads over the foreground of this bank. It is a rapid grower on sandy soils fully exposed to the sun 



Native Evergreens Suitable for Ground-Covers 



EDWIN H. COSTICH, to 



SUGGESTING NEW USES FOR MANY PLANTS WELL KNOWN IN THE WILD, YET RARELY TO BE SEEN IN GARDENS 



IN THESE days of slogans voicing the 

 sentiment that we should "Use American 

 Made" goods, it seems a fine opportunity 

 to apply the idea to our gardens, and 

 incidentally to get gardening folks acquainted 

 with our native plants. And as ground-cover 

 plants are coming to be more and more recog- 

 nized as very important to good gardening 

 and landscape work, it would not seem out 

 of place to begin with them in developing a 

 wider use of our native material. 



Garden makers generally realize the need of 

 more material to serve as covers to carpet 

 the ground, something that will take the place 

 of grass and cover that shaded bare space 

 under the trees, that will clothe the grassy 

 patches and join the shrub groups together. 



And evergreen ground-covers are econom- 

 ical. When once planted they require prac- 

 tically no attention and many of them will 

 thrive where it has been almost impossible 

 to establish any vegetation before. Planted 

 between the shrubs of the border they elimi- 

 nate the necessity of hoeing, which is quite an 

 important item in the upkeep of any garden; 

 covering a washed-out bank they will do away, 

 with the inevitable gouged and furrowed ap- 

 pearance, and the work of filling in after each 

 rain. 



The plants noted here are primarily ground- 

 cover plants, that is, plants that do not com- 

 monly exceed two to two and one half feet 

 in height. Being evergreens, they include 

 both broad-leaved and coniferous plants. 

 Many of the species mentioned, though native, 

 are not ordinarily obtainable in our own 

 nurseries (except from a few specialists in 

 native plant material); although they are ade- 

 quately appreciated by the foreign trade; as our 

 nurserymen wake up to their opportunities 

 these plants will be more generally grown. 

 Meanwhile, we can go to the woods, pine 

 barrens and swampy places and collect them 

 for ourselves. They will repay all the time 

 and money expended on them by their charm- 

 ing and delicate simplicity and their adapta- 

 bility to our gardens. 



Presenting these plants as ground-covers is 

 perhaps putting them in a new role. They have 

 heretofore been considered, wheneverthey have 

 been considered at all, as rock garden sub- 

 jects. But that should not preclude their use 

 as cover plants. Many of the plants described 

 below have not been tried out in this way, and 

 the experimenter may look forward to a good 

 deal of enjoyment in testing them. There are 

 several (as Arctostaphylos, Taxus, and Juni- 

 perus) that will undoubtedly produce desired 



15 



results in a shorter time than some of the 

 smaller, slower growing kinds, but each one 

 has some particular merit peculiar to itself 

 that makes it a valuable addition to the list 

 of our worth-while garden plants. 



The Big Heath Family 



PHE heath family is especially rich in ever- 

 •*■ green ground-covers contributing at least 



seventeen species native of the northeastern 



states and eastern Canada. 



Bearberry or Deerfeed (Arctostaphylos 

 Uva-ursi) is perhaps the finest of all evergreen 

 ground-cover plants for dry, sandy, acid soil. 

 Growing wild on the sandy wastes and pine- 

 barrens of New Jersey, Long Isand and 

 along the shores of Cape Cod, it covers thou- 

 sands of acres of cheerless sand with a veritable 

 carpet of shining green. The long vine-like 

 runners reach out over the ground, and in a 

 short time cover it entirely. In the spring 

 the inconspicuous pink and white flowers 

 can be found hidden among the leaves, and 

 later on the crimson berries are very notice- 

 able. The Bearberry is used as a cover plant 

 on dry banks, under shrubbery, or as an edg- 

 ing plant along a border it does admirably. 

 If planted in a lime-soil country, it must have 



