The three most suitable Heaths for limestone are Erica carnea, vagans, and mediterranea.
CHAPTER XXIX
NATIVE AND OTHER HARDY EVERGREENS
Rambling about the country in winter, one becomes more and more impressed with the beauty of our native evergreen trees and shrubs. Seven names comprise them all—Yew, Holly, Scotch Fir, Spruce, Juniper, Box, and Ivy. Even of these the Scotch and Spruce Firs (commonly so-called, though the Scotch is a Pine) are doubtful natives, though so long acclimatised that they may be classed with our own. Those who are laying out new grounds on a large scale would do well to plant these grand things in plenty; indeed, in the case of any new planting that is taken in hand, unless the owner has a good knowledge of shrubs and some taste in their choice and disposition, a planting of these alone would save him from many a regrettable mistake, and from the prospect of the usual senseless jumble of mixed shrubbery that has hopelessly spoilt thousands of gardens.
No foreign shrubs can compare with or take the place of our Yews and Hollies. However large a collection of exotics may be in a well-stocked arboretum, a winter walk among them only shows that there is nothing more cheerfully handsome than our Hollies, or more solemnly dignified than our Yews. On dry, sandy soils no Conifer is better for England than the Scotch Fir; or for moist, loamy regions and valley bottoms none is better than the Spruce. Exception is sometimes taken to the Spruce; and when planted in other than the place it likes it is, indeed, a wretched object, as on dry and hilly grounds. But a mass of Common Spruce in a cool, alluvial bottom is a picture of well-being, and no one can deny their majesty on alpine hillsides. The Douglas Fir is sometimes recommended in its stead, but this beautiful and quick-growing tree must still be regarded as an experiment. There is not as yet a single old Douglas Fir, and there are some among our botanical experts who are yet in doubt whether, for all its young vigour, it will be a lasting tree for our country. For dry uplands in light soil there is the lovely Juniper, best of all its kind (though often in nurseries foreign ones only are offered to its exclusion), and for chalky soils and loams the Box luxuriates, and can be used as a small tree, as well as in its usual bush form.
The use of Common Ivy should not be forgotten. Tree or bush ivies are amongst the most beautiful and effective of winter plants, all flowering from October to January. A noble evergreen is the tree form of Ivy amurensis.
In Ireland we have the Arbutus Unedo, and A. Andrachne is a tree once seen will always be remembered; its coloured bark is very beautiful.
Importance of a Suitable Climate.—Evergreen shrubs luxuriate generally in the climate of the British Isles, especially in the southern and western counties, and constitute one of the great glories of the English garden, delighting in these sea-bound islands, with their cool and moist atmosphere.
It has been established, therefore, that the evergreen seeks an equable climate, free from extremes of cold and heat, and with an even supply of moisture to both leaf and root, favouring in a marked degree the sea-coast with its salt-laden winds. As we travel south, so opportunities for growing an increasing variety of evergreen trees and shrubs become more apparent, until, in the south of Cornwall and the south-west of Ireland, things may be planted out with safety which towards the midlands and north would scarcely exist. But latitude is not everything, and easily proved so by the rude vigour of plants from New Zealand and the Himalayas that are happy in the north of Scotland, but failures in the midlands and further south of England, requiring the protection of glass to develop their characteristic beauty.