HOUSE AND GARDEN 
August, 1910 
whole it is the ordinary 
and accustomed variety 
which wisdom will select. 
Nothing is more beau¬ 
tiful than the familiar 
White Pine which is na¬ 
tive over such an ex¬ 
tended area of the United 
States and which will 
grow practically every- 
where, so what excuse is 
there for using a novelty 
in place of it? No nov¬ 
elty can have withstood 
the test of generations as 
the native has — if it had 
it would no longer be a 
novelty — and the weak¬ 
nesses it may develop can 
not even be conjectured. 
The changes which age 
will bring to it are like¬ 
wise all a matter of guess¬ 
work and with evergreens, 
where we are planting for all time, these are very important. 
For there are two distinct forms in the life of the majority 
of the cone-bearers; the first — the youthful — is regular, pyra¬ 
midal and somewhat formal; the last — the mature—is rugged 
and irregular and altogether quite different from anything to be 
imagined, judging from the earlier. 
The period of transition from symmetry to irregularity comes 
at about the twentieth to the twenty-fifth year in some up to the 
fortieth or fiftieth in others, 
hence it is apparent that not 
until a variety has been grown 
for fifty years in a given soil 
and climate can it be said 
positively whether or no it is 
a success under those particu¬ 
lar conditions. 
Fifty years hence seems a 
long way off in this day and 
age of haste — and of course 
it is a long way off — but build¬ 
ing a landscape is not the task 
of to-day or this year; indeed 
it is not a task that the builder 
can much more than begin. 
Even with wisdom and indus¬ 
try beyond price at his com¬ 
mand he still must wait on 
Time. 
And Time goes straight 
ahead if the builder’s work is 
ill, quite as bent on finishing 
it as though it were well, and 
quite as determinedly laying 
emphasis on every point 
where emphasis can be made 
to lodge. This is the thought 
that ought always to be before 
us—this is the thought that, 
centuries back, guided the 
builders whose work now re¬ 
mains in the wonderful old 
gardens of the Old World. 
Plan for to-day, and this 
year, and next of course 
—plan to get all into the 
present and out of it too, 
that is possible; but plan 
ahead at the same time. 
Patience and this looking 
ahead are always essen¬ 
tial in gardening but es¬ 
pecially are they so when 
the subject of the work 
is evergreens. Keep an 
eye constantly to the fu¬ 
ture. Flave the quick¬ 
growing, short-lived trees 
for the immediate need, 
but do not omit planting 
the slower-growing, long- 
lived species to take their 
places, in the course of 
time. 
All that has been said 
about fancy varieties and 
novelties applies with 
even greater force to the “golden-leaved” and “silver-tipped” 
conifers so much in use at present. Bear in mind constantly that 
it is always a question whether any tree or shrub with abnormal 
foliage—and variegated foliage is, with one or two exceptions, 
always abnormal—is in good taste; and the doubt makes it safer 
to draw the line quite this side of planting them, altogether. No 
artist would dream of planting them unless many were grouped 
in such a way as to give them the meaning and force which 
unity might express. 
This is the test which will 
ultimately decide the merit of 
any garden work; no planting 
can be regarded as a complete 
success if it does not offer 
finally a subject worthy can¬ 
vas and paints and brushes— 
and a cultivated eye and train¬ 
ed hand to use them. Cer¬ 
tainly a solitary Blue Spruce 
in the middle of a lawn will 
hardly permit even its fondest 
admirers to hope or expect 
this for it. 
Generally speaking, the 
grouping of evergreens fol¬ 
lows the same lines as the 
grouping of deciduous trees, 
but fewer will ordinarily be 
planted because of their 
stronger individuality and 
dominating qualities. They 
may be combined with decid¬ 
uous trees or planted by 
themselves, either one; in 
combination with the former 
they should occupy the prom¬ 
inent positions and should be 
in either a decided majoritv 
or minority. Never use an 
equal or nearly equal number 
of both kinds. 
Usually one variety of 
For the most harmonious grouping along a border the greatest depth in plan 
occurs at the point of greatest height 
Cedars, Pines, Spruces, Firs and Hemlocks were moved here to 
screen a service court 
