Herbaceous and Bedding Plants 



ripen firmly, while next season's growth starts feebly and the 

 flowers are poor and colorless. 



The pruning of the different species varies according to the 

 habit of growth and the purpose for which they are used. 



The Pillar Roses (those that are used in covering stumps of 

 old trees, trellises, etc.) which are generally strong growers 

 (under fair conditions, making an annual growth of from six 

 to twenty feet) must be treated differently in the way of prun- 

 ing from those which are naturally of a bushy, dwarf habit. The 

 Climber is grown for the purpose of covering large areas and 

 to give great showers of bloom, whereas the dwarf kinds are 

 grown mostly for their fine form or size, individually, or in 

 clusters of from three to six in a cluster. In pruning the Climbers, 

 in December or January, all that is necessary is to thin the shoots 

 of any weak or worn out or dead or surplus branches and shorten 

 the previous year's shoots by cutting off the soft or unripened 

 tips, on the other hand being careful not to thin too freely thus 

 exposing too much of the wall or trellises on which they are 

 trained. 



The Hybrid Perpetuals, the Bourbons and the tea-scented 

 sections which are grown in beds or borders and are desired for 

 their individual flowers, should be pruned back in December or 

 January each year, leaving only from four to eight buds on each 

 shoot of the previous year's growth. 



When the bushes are four or five years old, it will become 

 necessary to thin out some of the old stems, but only enough to 

 keep the middle of the bush from becoming crowded too much; 

 this admits^ light and air to each growth and encourages stronger 

 stems and finer flowers. 



Should, as is very often the case, the plants show a tendency 

 to make weak, spindly growth, it is a good plan to take them up 

 in early Spring and either transplant them into new soil or trench 

 the ground over (enriching it with a plentiful supply of old 

 manure) and replant them after cutting them well back and 



[271] 



