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Besides the bank and large mass types of planting, 
rhododendrons may well be used in small groups as 
accent points 
As to Flowering Evergreens 
{Continued from page 37) 
peaty or sandy soil,” absolutely free 
from all trace of lime. 
It is, of course, perfectly obvious 
that a plant -wbich needs a moist and 
peaty soil should dislike lime; for 
lime is a soil sweetener above all else. 
A rich and peaty soil, rich in decay¬ 
ing vegetation, is decidedly sour; a 
plant which prefers it, prefers sour 
soil; hence nothing could be more 
contrary to such a plant’s needs and 
wishes than anything which tends to 
change this condition. Plants are 
not unlike people; give those who 
have a penchant for acids only 
sweets to eat and they sicken and 
pine—and die, if their food prefer¬ 
ences are continually thus overrid¬ 
den without consideration. 
All of this heath family are shal¬ 
low rooted plants. This is another 
decided and common characteristic— 
also perfectly obvious, when you stop 
to consider. For growing in a moist 
soil, they have no need to send roots 
down deep after nourishment. It is 
available right at the surface of the 
ground, practically; and so they 
spread their roots out in a fine net¬ 
work close up to the surface. 
Because of this habit of shallow 
root growth, they are naturally very 
sensitive to heat on the ground 
around them—to sunlight shining 
upon it, if not to sunlight shining 
upon their heads. Not a root in all 
creation likes light, to say nothing 
of sunlight or heat. Roots must be 
cool and in the dark. Hence shal¬ 
low rooted plants generally require 
the ground above them to be shaded, 
and to this family it is essential that 
it be so. This is the reason for the 
persistent mulching practiced by 
those who know how to handle them. 
Appropriate Uses 
The trees perform this office for 
the wild plants; for by nature they 
grow in open woods wdiere the leaf 
fall drifts around them every au¬ 
tumn, and remains to decay and add 
to the food which thej^ dote on, year 
after year. Trees shade them, too, 
in winter as well as summer; for 
even bare branches offer a consider¬ 
able obstacle to the warmth of the 
sun. The man who plants rhododen¬ 
drons or laurel in the open, there¬ 
fore, and then rakes the ground 
around them clean as fast as the 
leaves blow over it, is a criminal. 
So I come at last to speak of the 
use of these plants, particularly the 
rhododendrons and laurel. They! 
are all immensely popular—and ex-' 
pensive, as compared to ordinary de¬ 
ciduous garden material. Thousands 
of rhododendrons find their way 
every year to screen the foundations 
of dwellings, to take the place wFich 
belongs only to deciduous shrubs in. 
broad plantations, to make “beds" 
and to do pretty nearly everj'thing 
else which a rhododendron ought 
not to do and never was intended by 
its Creator to do. 
When w'ill we learn that these are 
all “wild flowers,” just as “wild” as 
the most elusive wood orchid, or the 
gentian, or the precious pitcher plant 
of hidden bogs? You may say that 
all flowers are “wdld” somewhere in. 
the world; and I grant you that, 
though I could name a lot of hybrid 
this and that and the other which 
never were wild anj^where in the 
world, if I were disposed, to split 
hairs! But certain wild flowers are 
easily domesticated, are fitted by na¬ 
ture to adorn any spot, just as certain 
animals are by nature designed appar¬ 
ently to be Alan’s companions and 
friends, while others are untamable. 
Essentially Wild Plants 
It is to this latter, untamable class 
that all of this family belong; and 
though wonderful hybrids have been 
produced and beautiful specimens are 
in existence, it is only when planted 
in conditions similar to those which 
the plant chooses in a state of nature 
that they fully satisfy one’s sense of 
fitness and harmony. Under any 
other conditions there is an incom¬ 
pleteness in the landscape; it is not 
indeed a landscape at all, in the true 
sense of the word, but rather a col¬ 
lection of laurel, or rhododendrons, 
or whichever of the family is used. 
But starting with the conception 
that they are all wild growth of an 
untamable nature, it is impossible to 
go astray in the use of them. They 
invariably require naturalizing—scat¬ 
tering, massing, banking, planting 
generally in such careless formation 
as they naturally assume in the 
woods. Always put them under the 
partial shade, at least, of overtopping 
trees, and always where the general 
conditions are rich. 
Of course, this makes them not 
everyman’s plant, but only plants for 
{Continued on page 62) 
