Evergreen

An evergreen conifer for a residential district

Conical conifers are among the most widespread trees planted in residential districts. They grow slowly, keep a regular shape without a gardener's intervention and stay green the whole year round, so they are often planted by driveways, at the corners of plots and around cemetery walls. In open country the same trees then stand scattered on pastures and at the edges of woods, where their dark silhouette stands out against pale grass.

The sizes in the package

The package is made up of two pieces 13.3 cm and 10.1 cm tall. Both are finished and colored through, with no need to build them. The difference in height between them is large enough that the pair does not read as two identical trees.

Where to put them

They stand out most as a complement to buildings: at the corner of a house, beside a driveway or behind a low fence, where they form a vertical element against the horizontal lines of the structures. Inside woodland growth it is better to leave them free space, because the conical outline is lost as soon as the crown touches the neighboring trees. In a country scene it works to put the taller piece on its own in the middle of a pasture and the lower one by a stone wall.

The heights given match a mature tree in HO and N, and they also suit military dioramas where growth is to rise above a vehicle. Under the crown it is enough to suggest fallen needles, or low grass pressed down by the dense shade.

If you are building a spring or summer scene, it suits the foot of the trunk to add a few lighter tufts of grass. The contrast with the dark needles helps: the tree separates visually from the base and does not merge with it into one dark area, which is what happens most often with conifers.