The Right Use of 
Evergreens 
STRIKING THE MOST POWERFUL 
NOTE IN LANDSCAPE PLANTING - 
ARRANGING GROUPS TO AVOID ARTI¬ 
FICIALITY — THE ADVANTAGES OF 
THE GOOD OLD ESTABLISHED SORTS 
Photographs by Nathan R. Graves and others 
\ I he tenth of a series of articles by Miss Tabor on 
the subject of landscape gardening as applied to the 
American home of moderate size. Preceding articles in 
the series have appeared wider the titles-. “Utilizing 
Natural Features in Garden Making” ( Oct., 1909); 
" Getting■ Into a Place” (Nov.); “Formal or Informal 
Gardens” (Dec.); “Screening, Revealing and Emphasiz¬ 
ing Objects or Views” (Jan., 1910); “Boundary Lines 
and Boundary Plantings” (Feb.); “Planting Trees for 
Air, Light and Shade” (Mar.); “Planting Shrubs for 
Mass Effects” (Apr.); “The Part Flowers Play in Gar¬ 
den and Landscape” (May); and “Blending Archi¬ 
tecture and Nature by Planting” (July). Questions re¬ 
lating to further details and planting information 'will 
be gladly answered. — Editor.] 
L 
EGEXD has it that 
the pinon was 
the first tree to rise 
from the bare, brown 
W nrnv im A T P en ?h Can hop f only T bosom of the earth 
proximate the grandeur of the .... 
Cypresses of Italy and certain it is that 
something deep and 
elemental stirs the heart when the voices of all this great whis¬ 
pering tribe breathe their mysteries into human ears; equally 
certain it is that Evergreens always have struck and always will 
strike the supreme note in a landscape—a note that lifts the im¬ 
agination to splendid heights. 
But it is all too seldom that they are planted with reference 
to this. In modern gardening they are too apt to be “specimens,” 
such as the glaucous-foliaged Spruces or golden Arborvitaes, or 
else they are relegated to the merely utilitarian and planted as 
shelter belts for some- 
objectionable, but it is 
such planting, utterly 
devoid of imagination 
and feeling and result- . . , ,, 
• • r 1 • 1 r Closely associated with the best old 
m b in a for ridding American gardens is the rambling 
gloom, that is largely hedge of Box 
the cause of the preju¬ 
dice which some cherish towards evergreens as a class. It is 
quite as possible to group effectively and still secure protection 
or shut out objectionable features as it is to plant in rows to do 
so — and in the former case a definite interest is created, a bit of 
true landscape is formed so that the utilitarian is lost sight of 
completely in the end; nevertheless the reason for planting ex¬ 
isted and continues to exist, though it is not apparent to the 
observer. 
Fancy varieties of a tree are seldom worth while, whether 
evergreens or deciduous 
thing that stands before 
them and focuses the at¬ 
tention ; in either of which 
cases the real and lofty 
grandeur of the order is 
overlooked and hopelessly 
dimmed if not altogether 
obscured. 
To be sure the ques¬ 
tion of purpose must be 
kept in mind quite as 
much here as in all other 
phases of gardening, for 
a reason for planting 
must exist, else there can 
be no excuse for planting 
— but this reason need 
not altogether lack an 
esthetic side. Precise, 
straight rows of Hem¬ 
locks or Spruce will shel¬ 
ter from the wind and 
will hide a view that is 
A well arranged group of Hemlocks at the edge of a lawn, the beauty of which 
winter can only accentuate 
— and this can never be 
emphasized too much. 
With evergreens particu¬ 
larly the temptation to 
indulge in some of the 
many novelties is con¬ 
stantly before the unwary 
buyer and the standard 
natural forms are almost 
lost sight of. Horticul¬ 
tural forms may be inter¬ 
esting in themselves, but 
it takes something with a 
greater claim to consider¬ 
ation than “interest” to 
build up a beautiful pic¬ 
ture — and the quality that 
makes them interesting 
when they are a novelty is 
usually the very thing 
that makes them tiresome 
when the novelty has 
worn off. So on the 
