PRUNING HARDY FLOWERING SHRUBS 



MANY readers of this book have written to me about the 

 pruning of hardy flowering shrubs, and asking for a few notes 

 to guide them in an operation of which they are wholly igno- 

 rant. Pruning generally seems to be a rock upon which many 

 beginners come to grief, and one is surprised to find that even 

 with instructions as clearly and simply expressed as possible, 

 the subject is little understood. Hardy flowering shrubs are 

 in most gardens either left to themselves completely or sub- 

 jected to a pruning that would be more appropriate to a Grape 

 Vine, viz. a hard and indiscriminate cutting back, with the 

 result of an absence of flowers the following year. Pruning 

 often signifies a flowerless time in the following year, for the 

 reason that growths that produce blossom are removed through 

 ignorance of their blossom-bearing capacity. The shrubberies 

 of a former age were quite different to the free grouping of 

 beautiful shrubs and small trees that add grace and beauty 

 to the English garden. The old shrubbery was a choke- 

 muddle receptacle for many things or a few things of small 

 interest Privet, Conifers, and the like, but of Conifers in par- 

 ticular, a race of shrubs at that period in high favour with 

 rich and poor, with unfortunate results, as few Conifers will 

 live with comfort near large towns. 



It is the rule rather than the exception to find in gardens 

 a collection of beautiful flowering shrubs composed of the 

 fragrant Mock Oranges, the Lilacs, Brooms, Rhododendrons, 

 and the many other species and varieties noticed in the special 

 chapter devoted to these in this book. All these require judi- 

 cious treatment, and this given will be repaid a thousand-fold 

 in a freer and more lasting flower display. Flowering shrubs 

 must be, so to speak, " cultivated," and by this is meant keep- 

 ing the ground clean, restricting the too vigorous growths of 

 neighbouring things, and giving an annual pruning. Someone 

 will say, " Well, I know all that ; but when is the time to 

 prune ? " This is one of the most important details of all, as 

 every race of shrubs requires in a large degree different 



treatment to others, some needing attention in late winter, 



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