September, 1910 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



367 



Garden Notes 



Conducted by Charles Downing Lay 



Bedding With Evergreens 



'VERGREENS used as bedding plants give 

 more year round satisfaction than any 

 other plants, and in the end they are far 

 cheaper to use than cannas and cala- 

 diums, though their first cost may be 

 greater. 



They are roughly divided into two 

 classes, coniferous, which do best in full sun, and broad 

 leaved, which need some protection from the sun in winter 

 and which will grow and do fairly well in the shade. 



Both classes are good to use near the house or at the en- 

 trance gates or in any position where the same foliage ef- 

 fect is needed the year round. 



Our illustration shows alternate plans for planting one 

 side of a fore court with coniferous evergreens. 



In front there is a row of Thuya glohosa one foot high, 

 a dwarf arbor vitae which soon forms an even border or 

 edging. It is bright in color. Back of this is Jitniperiis 

 s a b i n a prostrata 

 one foot high, a 

 darker green with 

 feathery foliage, 

 which covers the 

 ground completely. 

 Inside t h e arbor 

 vitae hedge which 

 surrounds the court 

 is Retinospora pis'i- 

 fera three feet 

 high, still more 

 feathery but similar 

 in tone. 



In one corner 

 there is a group of 

 three trees: Retino- 

 spora filifera ten 

 feet, R. plumosa 

 five feet and R. 

 pisifera seven feet, 

 all conical in shape 

 and similar in color 

 and texture. These 

 are surrounded by 

 R. plumosa aurea, 

 three feet. In front 

 of these are Juni- 

 perus sabina twenty 

 inches and Retino- 

 spora obtusa nana 

 eighteen inches, a 

 dark green, rather 

 stiff and slow grow- 

 ing tree. 



The other corner 

 has a group of three 

 R. squarrosa dif- 

 ferent heights. This 

 is light gray green 

 in color, very com- 

 pact and with feath- 

 ery foliage. In 

 front arc R. pisifera 



ft. f):z-aka amcBTZO. 

 13. I?eK ohac<L. 



C.. fiza/ca. Aaevnii 



■ 27- /l2a2ea. Tnc/ctA 



i-erc . 

 a?dcL'. 



An arrangement of broad-leaved evergreens 



A. T^ed. Cedar, /s '. 

 F. Xdt-ivo ibeTa, Sqoa.rroif>~ T/o's 



Fore court planted with coniferous evergreens 



eighteen inches and R. obtusa twenty-four inches. 



The red cedars, eighteen feet high, can be bought in 

 nurseries for about twenty dollars, or they can be moved 

 from the fields for much less. Aside from these the whole 

 planting should be done for $250, or it might be done with 

 junipers collected in the fields and with cedars replacing 

 the tall retinosporas for little more than the labor of col- 

 lecting them. 



The other plan shows an arrangement of hardy yews 

 surrounded by a hemlock hedge. This is less showy and 

 would cost a little more, but would be more permanent 

 because the yews grow more slowly. 



In both schemes the plants should be put so close together 

 that the ground is hidden. After a year or two they will 

 have grown so that they will be too crowded and must be 

 thinned and rearranged. The plants which are taken out 

 should be larger and more valuable than when they were 

 put in, and they can be used in other parts of the place. 



Thus the evergreen 

 bed becomes a sort 

 of private nursery. 



They can be en- 

 livened a little by 

 planting Spanish 

 and English iris 

 and many lillies 

 among them. It is 

 well to avoid the 

 blue or silvery 

 plants, and the 

 golden ones in such 

 a planting as this. 

 The temptation to 

 buy them is great, 

 but they are poor 

 things usually and 

 make too gaudy an 

 effect in spring and 

 become too dingy in 

 winter. 



The use of small 

 trees in such a 

 planting as this is a 

 mistake. They soon 

 outgrow the plant- 

 ing and are never 

 in harmony w i t h 

 the other plants, 

 nor are they them- 

 selves proper plants 

 to use in bedding. 

 The only exception 

 is the mugho pine, 

 which is a very slow 

 growing dwarf 

 white pine, and sev- 

 eral dwarf varieties 

 of the spruce. The 

 mugho pine can be 

 used with junipers 

 and retinosporas, 

 but the stiffness of 



