84 Landscape Gardening 



PRUNING SHRUBS 



In pruning shrubs they should be allowed to take their 

 most natural and perfect form; and, when branches become 

 old and weak, they should be cut away from the inside, 

 thus thinning out and allowing new vigorous shoots to grow 

 to take their place, as at a, Fig. 51. 



The practice of shearing shrubs on the outside only, 

 without thinning out any of the inside branches, cannot be 

 too severely condemned, for it not only gives them an un- 

 natural form in which there is little or no beauty, but it 

 causes an increase in the number of small and imperfect 

 shoots at the end of every branch cut, thus shutting out the 

 sunlight and resulting in a very imperfect growth, that 

 produce very few, if any, flowers. 



The best blooms of some kinds of shrubs are borne on 

 wood of two or more years' growth, and the annual winter 

 or spring pruning as often practised destroys much of this 

 growth and forces the shrub to make wood at the expense 

 of blossoms. In the case of the Hydrangea and Hibiscus, 

 however, which bloom late in the season and from the new 

 shoots, annual spring pruning of the old wood will result in 

 larger and better flowers. Early-blooming shrubs like the 

 spirea, weigela, forsythia, lilacs, exochordia, etc., may 

 be trimmed in early summer just after blooming with the 

 best results; while the hydrangea, althea, and clethra, etc., 

 should be pruned in late fall, winter, or early spring. If a 

 long time unpruned, whether in groups or planted singly, 

 most shrubs become irregular in form and lose their beauty, 

 but by careful pruning and proper arrangement, beds or 

 groups of shrubs may be made to keep as good form and 

 appearance for many years as if newly planted. The larger- 

 growing shrubs should be planted in the centre or front and 

 the smaller ones on the border of the groups, each kind thus 



