December 11, 1998

     Evergreens

Evergreens such as hemlocks, spruces, pines and firs are attractive on the mid-December landscape and make winter cities more livable.  There is nothing like a confer to grace the winter scene.  A snow-covered evergreen is one of the most splended sights of nature.  In the Twin Cities area we expect to see snow-covered evergreens for 30 or so days each winter; we would have more of those days, but wind and warm spells remove the snow during much of the winter.

Pines, spruces, junipers, yews and other evergreens are beautiful trees and shrubs to plant northern winters, and they do many things for us.  They fill in for deciduous trees that drop their leaves and look bare and cold in the winter.  When maples, oaks and elms lose their leaves in the fall, evergreens give us bulk.  They protect from the cold winds, give us privacy and make us feel sheltered as they add their shades of green to the white winter scene.  Evergreens provide food, plus nesting and roosting places, for many birds and other animals.