Round the Year in the Garden 



to within three or four buds of the base, so that vigorous 

 shoots may develop which shall in turn yield flowers 

 next winter. The fragrant winter-blooming Honey- 

 suckles (Lonicera fragrantissima and Standishi) need 

 little pruning, but thin and weakly growths ought to 

 be cut away. The golden Bell Trees (Forsythia) need to 

 be hard pruned when the flowers have faded, as advised 

 for the winter Jessamine. The Witch Hazels (Hamamelis), 

 with their curiously twisted yellowish flowers, are among 

 the quaintest if not the showiest of early shrubs; the 

 necessary pruning is provided by cutting out weakly 

 growths, thus keeping the branches thinly disposed. 

 The side shoots of the Winter Sweet (Chirnonanthus 

 fragrans) need to be cut back after the fragrant 

 brownish blossoms are over. The sweet-scented Daphne 

 Mezereum grows slowly and needs no pruning. Magnolia 

 stellata, a lovely bush that bears a profusion of white 

 blossom in March, needs scarcely any pruning, except 

 that weakly shoots likely to crowd the centre of the 

 bush are cut out. The Flowering Currants that are so 

 gay in spring should have attention when the display 

 is past, some of the oldest stems being cut out, if this 

 seems needful. There is little to be done to Lilac at 

 this season, though sucker growths, those that develop 

 from the base of the bush, may be cut off; as fresh 

 growth starts, disbudding is practised with the object of 

 obtaining a limited number of good strong stems rather 

 than a large number of weak ones, which rarely flower 

 satisfactorily. Some other shrubs need hard pruning 

 in spring ; the stems of that charming blue-flowered 

 August shrub, Ceanothus Gloire de Versailles, should be 

 shortened now, for the blooms are produced by the 

 fresh shoots. The same advice applies to the panicled 

 Hydrangea (paniculata) and to the St. John's Wort 

 (Hypericum calycinum), both of which bloom best on 

 the fresh growths. Handsome summer-flowering shrubs 

 are Buddleia variabilis and its varieties Veitchiana and 



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