SHRUBS, HEDGES, AND HARDY CLIMBERS. 79 



at points where there would be a temptation to cut across 

 to shorten the distance, as in Fig. 31. They also serve to 

 cover up and break the monotony of the walk by obscuring 

 changes until it becomes necessary for one to make the turn 

 to reach one point or another. A combined group of 

 trees and shrubs illustrating the shrubs planted a little way 

 from the trees is shown in Fig. 34. 



PRUNING OF SHRUBS. 



In pruning shrubs they should be allowed to take their 

 most natural and perfect form; and, when branches become 

 old and weak, they should be cut away from the inside , 

 thus thinning out and allowing new shoots to grow to take 

 their place, as at a, Fig. 47. 



The practice of shearing shrubs on the outside only, 

 without thinning out any of the inside branches, cannot be 

 too severely condemned, for it not only gives them an un- 

 natural form in which there is little or no beauty, but it 

 causes an increase in the number of small and imperfect 

 shoots at the ends of the branches, thus shutting out the 

 sunlight and resulting in a very imperfect growth, that 

 produce very few, if any, flowers. 



The best blooms of some kinds of shrubs are borne on 

 wood of two or more years' growth, and the annual 

 pruning often destroys much of this growth and forces the 

 shrub to make wood at the expense of blossoms. In the 

 case of the Hydrangia and Hibiscus, however, which 

 bloom late in the season and from the new shoots, annual 

 pruning of the old wood will result in larger and better 

 flowers. Early-blooming shrubs, like the Spiraea, Weigelas, 

 Forsythias, lilacs, Exochordia, etc., may be trimmed in 



