The Mountain Laurel (Kalmia) is the most beautiful of evergreen shrubs that can be grown in Eastern North America, and the most satisfactory 
Broad-leaved Evergreens for American Gardens* 
E. H. WILSON Arboretum 
WHAT CAN BE DONE TO RELIEVE THE WINTER BARENESS OF NORTHERN GARDENS— NATIVE PLANTS THAT ARE 
SPECIALLY WORTHY FOR GENERAL PLANTING — WHILE THE PLANTS OF THIS CLASS THAT CAN BE 
GROWN ARE COMPARATIVELY FEW, YET THE BEST OF THEM ARE NATIVES 
T HE gardens of New England present 
a marked contrast to those of Old 
England in that their habitants, 
save the Conifers and the Yews, are 
bare of leaves in the late autumn and through- 
out winter. There is a nakedness that em- 
phasizes the dreariness of the winter season. 
We have so few hardy, broad-leaved evergreen 
shrubs, and no trees; whereas in Great Britain 
they have many and there is a greenness and 
freshness about their gardens at all seasons of 
the year. We cannot help envying them their 
good fortune in being able to grow out of doors, 
and with no trouble, a wealth of plants which 
are ever clothed in restful green. Climate 
alone is responsible and since this is beyond 
human control, the garden lovers who live 
in the colder parts of eastern North America 
must bow to the inevitable. Tall-growing 
Broad-leaved Evergreens belong to the warm, 
temperate, and torrid parts of the earth and, 
with few exceptions, are not found in the cold, 
temperate, and arctic regions. 
NEW THINGS UNLIKELY 
1 lie Rhododendrons, the noblest group of 
hardy broad-leaved flowering Evergreens, 
have been dealt with in an earlier article, and 
here we may review carefully the remaining 
field in order to find out just what is our posi- 
tion in the matter of hardy broad- 
leaved evergreen plants. The reg- 
ions of the world where 
possible hardy types of 
these subjects grow 
have been pretty well 
ransacked and the chances 
of New England gardens 
securing any notable ad- 
ditions are remote. China, which 
has so bountifully supplied us with 
favorite flowers during the past 
hundred years and more, has con- 
tributed very little to our list of 
hardy broad-leaved Evergreens. 
North Japan has been fairly liberal 
and one or two have come to us from 
Europe, but the great majority are 
native of American soil. If the 
whole of this country were under 
consideration, it would be found that 
more such Evergreens can be grown 
out of doors here than in the whole 
of Europe. Indeed, this is true if the 
Pacific Slope alone be considered, but such 
favored regions are outside of this purview. 
In New England and southward to Wash- 
ington, D. C., the case is very different and it 
is only after years of trial that gardeners learn 
just what plants can withstand the hot dry 
summers, and cold changeable winters char- 
acteristic of these parts of eastern North 
America. The Arnold Arboretum is the only 
The fragrant pink flowers of the Garland Flower, Daphne 
Cneorum, produced all summer, have earned its popularity 
The Japanese Andromeda (A. japonica) has larger flowers and grows 
taller than the native A. floribunda, but is not so hardy 
171 
•Copyright, 1917, by Doubleday, Page & Co. 
