This section is from the book "What England Can Teach Us About Gardening", by Wilhelm Miller. Also available from Amazon: What England Can Teach Us About Gardening.
The cultivation of broad-leaved evergreens is a mighty particular business. Like golf it is easy to understand, but not such a snap to play. Three fourths of the story, as Henry Hicks says, is the six-inch permanent mulch, which retains the soil moisture, while the other fourth is protection from winter winds and sunshine, which "burn" the foliage. But in practice there are more troubles than I can mention here. (For instance, it is best to plant rhododendrons on the north and west sides of a house so that they will get the right amount of shade, but those sides asually get the worst winter winds. Again, rhododendrons won't grow in limestone soil, but there are limestone valleys a hundred miles long in this country and it is just like us to want rhododendrons anyhow. It is easy enough to learn the ideal conditions for broad-leaved evergreens, but somehow none of us evey seem to have them. So a man can't play the rhododendron game well unless he does a good deal of reading and visiting gardens.
 
Continue to:
garden, flowers, plants, England, effects, foliage, gardening