CUTTING DOWN CLEMATISES 

 A young nursery plant 



A. the main stem of plant ; B, B, B, shoots to 

 be cut off at dark lines ; C, C, C, C, C, C, C, 

 new shoots will then grow from the buds 

 below B, B, B. 



BEAUTIFUL WALLS AND FENCES 277 



Our next important point is the period of planting. Failures 

 often follow because the plants are put out in late spring, when 

 the sun has become powerful. Many amateur gardeners begin their 

 year's work at Easter, and (apart from 

 the fact that it sometimes falls late) 

 they find a good many odd but time- 

 absorbing jobs to do before they get 

 to the purchase of plants. Still worse, 

 many do not start until the bedding-out 

 season, which begins about the middle 

 of May, opens. The May planting of 

 wall plants does not give them a fair 

 chance. With hot soil and a hot wall 

 they are scorched up. Those who want 

 to succeed with climbers and creepers 

 should be encouraged to begin their operations earlier. The plants 

 =! . , | t ! ) ,,. j .... ought to be put in by the end of March ; 



\_ i _ I i i i i ii 



then they will be nicely rooted by the 

 time the hot weather comes, and will 

 not merely be able to stand the heat, 

 but will grow the better for it. What 

 hurts the plant in one set of circum- 

 stances benefits it in another. 



A third point is pruning. Popular 

 wall plants like Clematis Jackmanii, and 

 B, B, B, B, B, shoots to be allowed to re- the majority of the Roses used for 



main on the plant. The above pruning suits .... . 



the Lanuginosa type. The Jackmanii type Walls, are better for DCing CUt Tight 



should be cut down to within two feet of , .. , . ..-. . . 



the ground after the flowering season is down after planting. Broadly speaking, 



an amateur can never do harm by cut- 

 ting back a newly-planted climber, but may see the plants do badly 

 if it is not practised. Cutting down is not generally done, because 

 a person objects to buying a plant and then throwing away seven- 

 eighths of it ; he thinks it wasteful. It is the reverse. If a plant 



ANNUAL PRUNING OF CLEMATISES 

 A, A, A, A, shoots to be cut off at the dark lines ; 



