HOUSE AND GARDEN 
Au 
GUST, 1913 
Evergreens are too individualistic to be mixed with evergreens, but they act as highlights 
when planted with deciduous trees. Here among a mixed deciduous planting incidental 
white pines are placed 
One kind chooses a given area for its home, and she keeps other 
kinds away. But as some areas do not suit their exacting de¬ 
mands at all, they are, after all, limited in numbers, and occupy 
a small space, proportionately, in the world's vegetation. 
Here is all that we need, to help us determine the use of ever¬ 
greens. It becomes now simply a matter of drawing conclusions 
-—only we must take care that we draw right conclusions. 
Honest and dishonest use of any kind of plant does not affect 
garden design, and is not affected by it as much as might at first 
seem, although it does, of course, bear upon it to a certain degree. 
But a formal planting may use material quite as honestly and with 
as due regard for its nature and demands as an informal treat¬ 
ment, and false relations are as readily avoided in one as in the 
other. 
The first essential, whatever the garden scheme may be, there¬ 
fore, is recognition of the evergreen's “dominating personality." 
And, of course, recognition of a dominating personality is accom¬ 
plished simply by allowing it to dominate; in other words, by not 
allowing anything else to conflict. With this granted, it becomes 
instantly apparent that several kinds cannot be 
used in combination, for each kind, remember, 
is so distinctly individual that it will dominate; 
and something very like bedlam will therefore 
be let loose. 
This brings us to exactly the same conclusion 
that nature reached long ago, apparently, with 
regard to these independent and arrogant 
things: avoid trying to combine them. Let 
them be true to themselves, always true to that 
inherent and divine right to rule which cannot 
be denied any one of them. It is only when 
thus respected that they will serve us fully, 
lending beauty as well as protection to our little 
schemes. 
So groupings of many kinds must be abso¬ 
lutely taboo, likewise the monstrous evergreen 
"color effects” accomplished by such groupings. 
Guided by the general purpose for which the 
planting is to be done, select one variety and 
use this to the exclusion of all others, or to the 
exclusion of all save possibly a specimen or two 
of an allied variety, if personal preference for 
more than one kind is too strong to be over¬ 
come. Close adherence to just this one rule alone will assure a 
far greater degree of success in evergreen planting than 'is ever 
achieved in the usual system— if system it may be called, with its 
strained effort to do something which evergreens were never in¬ 
tended to do. 
The character of a place, quite as much as its size perhaps,, 
should govern in the selection of the kind of evergreen to be 
planted. A variety that is ponderous and heavy should never, of 
course, be used in a trim and toylike suburban garden, any more 
than toy trees should find their way into a broad and expansive 
landscape. Take into consideration, too, the surroundings. What 
are they or what are they likely to become; what of the place 
itself? Then choose something appropriate to the two together. 
Surroundings may not matter as much on a large place as they 
do on a small one, to be sure; for with land enough it is possible 
to create almost any sort of conditions, and to exclude them alto¬ 
gether. Still, they do have something to do with the general 
character of the whole; and they should never be altogether elim¬ 
inated from consideration. Picturesque trees like the white pine 
Pinus Montanus Mughus is a little suggestive of the white pine, but of 
lower growth and more compact habit. Groups are interesting on 
sloping land 
Retinospora filifera edging a lawn. The beauty that is shown in such 
situations is detracted from when various novelties are mixed in to¬ 
gether without harmony 
