38 FLOWERING AND ORNAMENTAL SHRUBS. 



taken otF in the spring, and the ground hoed and dressed in 

 such a manner as to enUven the earth around the roots of 

 the plants, and to give the whole a neat appearance. 



FLOWERING AND ORNAMENTAL SHRUBS. 

 Jlrhrisseaux d^Ornement. 



Shrubs are so closely connected with flowering plants, 

 and, indeed, so many of them are embellished with flowers, 

 that they may be considered as essential to the completion 

 of an ornamental garden. They are all Perennial, and are 

 divided into two classes, deciduous and evergreen ; the for- 

 mer lose their leaves in the winter, the latter only shed them 

 when others are ready to supply their places. 



Shrubs are not only necessary to the embellishment of a 

 flower garden, but many kinds are eligible for hedges to it, 

 and may be planted at a trifling expense. These hedges 

 should be frequently trimmed and trained, the sides cut even 

 and the tops sparingly clipped, so as to make them orna- 

 mental as well as useful, and also to increase the vigour of 

 their growth. When hedges become open or naked at the 

 bottom, they should be plashed down ; this is done by cut- 

 ting the branches half through near the ground ; they will 

 then bend easily, and may be interwoven with the adjoining 

 branches. 



When shrubs, creepers, or climbers, are planted against 

 walls or trellises, either on account of their rarity, delicacy, 

 or to conceal a rough fence, or other unsightly object, they 

 require different modes of training ; some attach themselves 

 naturally, as the Ivy, and merely require to be occasionally 

 guided, so as to cause a regular distribution of their shoots ; 

 others must be treated like fruit trees, trained thinly, if 

 blossoms are the object, and rather thick, if the intention be 

 to show the foliage to the greatest possible advantage. 



