Round the Year in the Garden 



is, like a lawn, very satisfying ; similarly, when it be 

 comes patchy it is an eyesore. The most popular hedge 

 plants are evergreens, and they are generally more 

 difficult to manage than deciduous shrubs; especially is 

 this the case with Conifers. The most suitable months 

 for planting the choicer evergreens are April and Sep- 

 tember. When evergreen hedges have become bare at 

 the base or thin they should be cut back hard at the 

 present time ; with a season's growth before them there 

 will be every chance of their making a good recovery. 

 This advice refers to such as Holly, Yew, Laurel, Thuya, 

 Cupressus, etc. It is a mistake to cut these hard in 

 winter, as one often sees done, for the hedge remains 

 bare and unsightly for months ; moreover, some of the 

 stems may die ; but in April fresh growth commences at 

 once. For a boundary hedge that will serve also as a 

 fence there is probably nothing better than a mixture of 

 Whitethorn and Beech : the plants should be cut down 

 to 9 or 10 inches after planting, so that a good base may 

 be formed. 



Clipping Hedges. There is no hedge to excel that 

 of Holly, though it develops slowly. Nevertheless, if 

 plants about 2 feet high are firmly planted now in good 

 loamy soil and kept moist at the root they soon begin to 

 make headway. It is important to prepare the ground 

 by digging 2 or 3 feet deep and mixing in rotted manure 

 not nearer the surface than 18 inches. The plants 

 should be set about 15 inches apart. An established 

 Holly hedge does not as a rule give much trouble, but if 

 there are gaps now is the time to fill them and cut back 

 the stems of such plants as are not satisfactory. Holly 

 hedges may be clipped now if they seem to need it, 

 though if clipping was carried out in late summer 

 probably no further attention in this respect will 

 be necessary. 



Thuya gigantea is a good hedge plant; so, too, is 

 Cupressus Lawsoniana. The leading shoots of these 



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