April Making Ready for Summer 



shrubs need to be cut back each spring, otherwise the 

 hedge is liable to get bare at the base, while ordinary 

 clipping should be done now and again in August. The 

 hedge then remains neat throughout the year. Cupressus 

 macrocarpa and its variety lutea make fine hedges, 

 especially in seaside gardens in mild districts. Yew is, 

 of course, very slow, but it makes an ideal hedge, and 

 none other looks so well. 



Hedges of quick-growing deciduous shrubs, such as 

 Privet and Thorn, may be clipped during summer as 

 often as seems necessary ; a final cutting in August will 

 keep them neat until spring. Beech and Hornbeam are 

 not likely to need clipping more than twice during the 

 season. During the first few years they must be allowed 

 to increase in height slowly, otherwise the base will get 

 bare, and the top should be cut more closely than the 

 base. Berberis stenophylla and Darwini make charming 

 flowering hedges. It is important to attend to their 

 pruning as soon as the flower display is over, but they 

 do not need close clipping; old growths should be cut 

 out, and others that destroy the symmetry of the hedge 

 may be shortened. The Laurel is an especially useful 

 shrub for massing by the side of a shady drive, where 

 there is little likelihood of success with choicer things. 

 If it is outgrowing the space allotted to it the present 

 is the time to prune it within bounds. It is a mistake to 

 use shears for the purpose, for the result is certain to 

 be unsightly. It is far better to take a knife and cut 

 out offending branches than to clip them as one would a 

 hedge. 



Transplanting Evergreens. The planting and trans- 

 planting of deciduous trees and shrubs ought to be 

 completed long before the middle of April, but this is 

 the season to undertake similar work with evergreens, 

 and especially Conifers. Such accommodating sorts as 

 Laurel, Rhododendron and Berberis may be moved in 

 autumn or even during winter in mild weather, but such 



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