Evergreen

“ At rare intervals a young evergreen is seen to rise in sharp relief, towering over all deciduous shrubbery, and in the lapse of long years it will succeed in supplanting every growing thing around with its own kind again. ”

“ They are not very beautiful, only strong and stanch and steadfast—the same in all times, through all seasons—ever the same, ever green. The spring cannot brighten them, the summer cannot scorch them, the autumn cannot wither them, the winter cannot kill them.
There are evergreen men and women in the world, praise be to God! Not many of them, but a few. They are not the showy folk; they are not the clever, attractive folk. (Nature is an old-fashioned shopkeeper; she never puts her best goods in the window.) They are only the quiet, strong folk ”

“ This is a narrow and an ill-informed view, for, though through the months of winter we cannot hope to see many or gaudy flowers, we may yet have our gardens bright and interesting with evergrey and evergreen shrubs and herbs, with the delightfully-coloured barks of willows, dog-woods and other trees, and, not less interesting, with the often beautiful stems of the last season's growth of herbaceous plants, usually sacrificed to the tidying spirit of those who would tidy the floor of heaven itself. ”

“ Evergreen Candytuft, Iberis.—Compact little evergreens, forming spreading bushes from 3 inches to 15 inches high, and sheeted with white flowers in spring and early summer. There are no plants more suitable for naturalisation in open or bare places, or, indeed, in any position where the vegetation is not strong enough to overrun them. They, however, attain greatest perfection when fully exposed to the sun, and are admirable for every kind of rocky or stony ground and banks. ”

“ By and by bitterly Chill winds will blow, And so, Little evergreens, grow! Grow! Grow! Grow, little evergreens, grow! Gather all uttermost Beauty, because,— Hark, till I tell it now! How Santa Claus, Out of the northern land, Over the seas, Soon shall come seeking you, Evergreen trees! Seek you with reindeer soon, Over the snow: And so, Little evergreens, grow! Grow! Grow! Grow, little evergreens, grow! What if the maple flare Flaunting and red, You shall wear waxen white Taper instead. ”

“ In evergreen species the conditions are in many respects different. When we have an early fall of snow in autumn, the trees which still retain their leaves are often very much broken down. Hence, perhaps, the comparative paucity of evergreens in temperate regions, and the tendency of evergreens to have smooth and glossy leaves, such as those of the holly, box, and evergreen-oak. Hairy leaves especially retain the snow, on which more and more accumulates. ”

“ Evergreens retain their leaves till those of next season succeed. In the case of evergreen firs, so many varieties of which are to be found in our ornamental grounds, leaves of one, two, and even more seasons, may be observed on the same branch, so exhaustless is Nature in her expedients and resources. ”

“ In the early days of England the Druids were accustomed to go forth at Christmas and gather the sacred mistletoe; while even the poor and humbler folk brought evergreen and hung it up in their cottages, that the gentle spirits of the forest might dwell there in safety till the sun should shine again. In these modern days it has become the fashion to use evergreens more and more generously. ”

“ Hence perhaps the glossiness of Evergreen leaves, as, for instance, of the Holly, from which the snow slips off. In warmer climates trees tend to retain their leaves, and some species which are deciduous in the north become evergreen, or nearly so, in the south of Europe. Evergreen leaves are as a rule tougher and thicker than those which drop off in autumn; they require more protection from the weather. But some evergreen leaves are much longer lived than others ”

“ And we, in our spring-time folly of youth, pass them by with a sneer, the uninteresting, colorless evergreens, and, like silly children with nothing but eyes in their heads, stretch out our hands and cry for the pretty flowers. We will make our little garden of life such a charming, fairy-like spot, the envy of every passer-by! ”

“ Where colors do not change, as among the evergreens, the effect of the autumn coloring is much more than doubled, as they are the only objects in the landscape which have remained as they were. This unchanging quality of the evergreens is, of course, the basis for the well-known French saying that “Evergreens are the joy of winter and the mourning of summer.” It cannot be too often repeated that a garden is an absolutely artificial thing, not only as to the congregation of flowers but principally as to color, and for this reason must be treated as such. ”

“ They are overshadowed and eclipsed by the rich and exuberant foliage of our common but noble forest trees; but their beauty is not, even then, lost. They give variety of hues to the forests which they fringe or help to form; variety of shapes, and always exquisite, spicy, and healthful odors. But when the autumn comes, with its infinitely varied tintings of orange and vermilion; when the frost works its wonders, and the wooded hills are clothed with splendor—then the rich groups of our native evergreens rise in their immortality of freshness. ”

“ Pick up a handful of dead leaves, and notice that though dead and brown, they show the flat surface with a middle ridge on the under side, prolonged into the short leaf stem. The pale lining is not so distinct now.
One tree family remains of the needle-leaved, cone-bearing evergreen. That is the fir, the Christmas tree, and its close relatives. Not often do we plant our native fir, because the trees are not as handsome, nor as useful as pines, spruces, and hemlocks. We may walk far before we find an evergreen which does not turn out to be a pine, a spruce, or a hemlock. ”

“ All the trees that yield their leaves to the season have for weeks been bare, ready to receive the weight of snow which might fall upon them, and teaching man that preparation is necessary to meet the evils of life and sustain its burthens. Here and there a few evergreens retain their foliage, and appear doubly beautiful amid the waste that is around them. ”

“ Nor does our winter leave us wholly leafless. Even in England we have a fair sprinkling of native-born evergreens. And I really don’t know that I would wish them more frequent; for nothing can be more monotonous, more sickly sweet, than the unvarying green of tropical forests; while the grateful contrast of drooping birch twigs or big-budded bare oak branches with the dark and sombre verdure of our northern Scotch firs, is in itself one of the chief charms of English winter. ”

“ The majority of evergreens are greedy feeders, and their hungry roots travel in all directions, impoverishing the soil in the beds and borders, which, owing to lack of space, have to be formed in their near vicinity. The prejudice which exists against deciduous trees is in reality quite unfounded, as anyone must realise who has taken the trouble to examine the structural beauty of trees which shed their leaves. The exquisite tints of autumn, the gradual revealing of hidden beauties in bark and stem as the summer mantle is discarded, are sights we look for in vain in evergreens. ”

“ Among all the trees you would only find such as the pine, the hemlock, the fir and other varieties, such as are known as evergreen trees, that would be green and give evidence of life. So you will see again how the Christmas tree fittingly represents Christ, because these evergreens, in the field and in the forest, seem to be the only things that have greenness and life, while all else around them seems to be dead and laid in a shroud of white snow. ”

“ Every conceivable tint of green is there, besides shades of pink and lavender in leaf case and catkin, but what dominates and translates the whole? The great hemlocks on the crest and the dark pointed cedars off on the horizon where the woodland thins toward the pastures. Whether you separate them or not, they are there. People are only just beginning to understand the value of evergreens in their home gardens, both as windbreaks and backgrounds. ”

“ Especially the evergreen species exhibit the impression of an originally mild climate—of a climate without winter frosts—for otherwise the plants would have developed into species with deciduous leaves. ”

“ You are confronted everywhere with this meeting of the natural and indented shore of the woods, close, feathery, impenetrable, with the bays and inlets of field and pasture and meadow. The jutting portions are apt to be made more sharp and marked by the most striking part of our growth, the evergreens. There they grow, white pine and red pine, black spruce, hemlock, and balsam fir, in lovely sisterhood. Their needles shine in the sun. ”

“ The general hue of the evergreens, which have so kindly solaced us during the wintry months, seem to acquire a more sombre tinge, as the vivid yellow green of the other trees now quite eclipses their beauty, although, when the young shoots of firs and cedars are put forth, the alternation of colour in them is very striking.
The birds are now busy, too, and musically clamorous; hundreds of them are warbling, and chirping, and chattering at once, yet in their mingled voices we hear no discord. It is all harmony—the music of nature. ”

“ It often happens that evergreens cannot be lifted through a dry soil. The same trees after winter rains may be moved with ease and safety in April or May. An evergreen should be disturbed whilst the roots are active, and by doing [Pg 244] this in September the shrub can establish itself before winter—hence the object of waiting until late spring, when autumn has been missed, as root growth has again begun. Autumn is a season generally of much atmospheric moisture, grateful dews, and welcome rains. ”

“ The evergreens showed up everywhere, in delicate vigorous beauty, and we counted unguessed masses of pine among the hills. I think we always expect a little sadness with the fall of the leaves, but instead there is a sense of elation, with the greater spread of light and the wider views opening everywhere. The wood roads showed more plainly than in summer, and paths stood out green across the fields. The tender unveiling of autumn had revealed the hidden topography of the forest, and countless small ravines and slopes were suddenly made plain. ”

“ The various evergreens, many of which are rare with us,—delicate and beautiful specimens of the larch, arbor-vitæ, ball-spruce, and fir-balsam, from a few inches to many feet in height—lined its sides, in some places like a long, front yard, springing up from the smooth grass-plots which uninterruptedly border it, and are made fertile by its wash; while it was but a step on either hand to the grim, untrodden wilderness, whose tangled labyrinth of living, fallen, and decaying trees only the deer and moose, the bear and wolf, can easily penetrate. ”

“ It is often a vexed question what to plant under trees when the space is bare, and sometimes there is an ugly view seen beneath the branches to shut out. Evergreens are the sheet anchor, relieved with a few deciduous shrubs grouped amongst them. ”

“ Even the evergreens—though they change but little throughout the year, and the old leaves and the new, the blossoms and the ripe fruit, may be seen upon the same tree at almost every season, looked brighter and fresher than before the rains. ”

“ There are deep green trees—the amateur nature-lover fancies they may be yews—with their dense warm foliage arranged in horizontal masses, like the clouds low down in a sunset, and certain other evergreens, one particularly, with a bluish-green covering of upstanding needles, are intensely conspicuous among the flame tints around. On a distant church tower, and nearer, disputing the possession of a gabled red house with a glowing creeper, is some ivy, and never is the perennial green of ivy so delightful as it is now, when all else is alight with the sombre fire of the sunset of the year. ”

“ The evergreens make less difference than one would suppose in the aspect of the country. Beautiful in summer, when all about them is green, they never strike one as gloomy; those which are natives of this climate, at least, are not of a sombre character. But as winter draws on, and the snow falls, they seem to grow darker ”

“ The dark foliage of the evergreens was brilliantly contrasted by the glittering whiteness of the plain, which exhibited, over the tops of the trees, and through the vistas formed by the advancing points of the hills, a single sheet of unspotted snow, relieved occasionally by a few small dark objects that were discovered, as they were passing directly beneath the feet of the travellers, to be sleighs moving in various directions. ”

“ All species are evergreen.
Guevina avellana.—Chili. A very ornamental evergreen tree, with large impari-pinnate leaves of a deep, glossy green, bearing white flowers followed by coral-red fruit the size of a cherry. There is a fine specimen at Greenway, 20 feet in height, which has ripened fruits from which seedlings have been raised.
Habrothamnus corymbosus.—Mexico. This well-known red-flowered greenhouse shrub does admirably as a bush plant in the open, as does H. elegans, with purple-red flowers. They often carry [Pg 201] bloom as late as November and are frequently met with. ”

“ ARTHUR FARWELL
Composer of the Music
[viii]
[ix]
To
Those Friendly Thousands
of Men, Women and Children
in American Towns and Cities, Who Have
Shared With the Author in His Masques
a Common Devotion to the Happy Cause
of a Communal Art
This Masque is Dedicated
in Christmas Fellowship
[xi]
[x]
PREFACE
Always an evergreen tree points up at a star.
Always a star looks somewhere down on the cradle of a child.
Always, once in the year, a child laughs up at evergreen boughs.
Tree, star and child are triune in the poetry of nature—a constellation of man that never sets. ”