December Making Plans 



stems may be cut from old rambler Roses, and insecure 

 posts and trellises ought to be made firm, or replaced 

 by new ones, the bases of the latter being tarred or 

 creosoted before use. Turf may be laid while the weather 

 is mild, and, if the ground is not too wet, lawns ought 

 to be rolled frequently. The name of many a plant has 

 been lost because no label was available at the time 

 of planting, and, as unpainted ones are useless, it is wise 

 to take time by the forelock and have some prepared. 

 Owing to the extraordinary multiplication of names of 

 flowers, or varieties of flowers, that has occurred within 

 recent years, the use of inconspicuous labels is essential. 

 Various kinds of labels are obtainable, yet even now 

 there is nothing much more satisfactory, for low-growing 

 plants, than the 6-inch white painted, wooden label, 

 on which the name remains legible for a long time. But 

 one may purchase metal labels, on which any given name 

 is embossed, or those of zinc. For shrubs or trees the 

 metal labels are most suitable, since they are practically 

 indestructible. 



The pruning of certain shrubs may well be carried 

 out before the garden wakes fully from its sleep and 

 other work makes heavy demands on the time of the 

 gardener. Many shrubs need no regular pruning such, 

 for example, as the vigorous kinds of Mock Orange 

 (Philadelphus), many of the Barberries, Azalea, Rhodo- 

 dendron, and Flowering Currant but even in these cases 

 dead and weak branches ought to be removed, and the 

 present is a suitable time to attend to them. Shrubs 

 that should be pruned in early spring comprise the 

 Jackmani, lanuginosa and viticella Clematises, the white 

 summer Jessamine, the red- and yellow-stemmed Willows, 

 the red-stemmed Dogwood (Cornus sibirica), the white- 

 stemmed Brambles, the golden-leaved Elder and Hydran- 

 gea paniculata. Among shrubs that must not be pruned 

 until they have blossomed are the yellow winter Jessa- 

 mine, Forsythia, and the spring-flowering Spiraeas. 



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