XVI 



HOW TO PRUNE YOUR SHRUBS 



When gardening begins most of us feel that we are not 

 performing our full duty by our shrubs unless we "do some- 

 thing" to them. If a man is brought in for a few days of gar- 

 den work, the shrubs are usually delivered over to his mercies, 

 and it is fairly certain that he will "fix them up" in a summary 

 fashion. It makes no difference whether they are spring or 

 summer or autumn flowering, whether they are valued for 

 foliage or flowers or berries: all are treated alike to the simple 

 process of beheading, like corn-stalks fed into a chopping- 

 machine. 



But shrubs are not alike, and therefore should not have 

 like treatment. The usual effect of beheading is that numbers 

 of shoots hasten to take the place of the ruined top, and the 

 shrub becomes more than ever choked with needless branches. 

 And if the shrubs are spring-flowering ones, their beauty and 

 gracefulness at blossom-time is completely wrecked. Until 

 after they are done blooming no one should be allowed to cut 

 off the heads of the following shrubs: 



Corchorus. Upright Honeysuckle (early- 



Deutzia. flowering. 



Flowering Almond. Spiraea prunifolia (Bridal 



Forsythia. Wreath). 



Japanese Quince. Spiraea Thunbergii. 



Jasminum nudiflorum. Spircea van Houttei. 



Lilacs. Weigelia. 



Snowball. Wistaria. 



Syringa. 



121 



