HOW TO PRUNE YOUR SHRUBS 



unless the top is cut back to correspond, the roots have more 

 to do than they can quite manage, and the plant is likely to 

 be exhausted. Autumn-planted trees and shrubs should be 

 cut back in spring. 



Shrubs You Can Prune in Earlt Spring 



Althcea, or Rose of Sharon. — This shrub usually has its figure 

 completely spoiled by a yearly beheading. Thin it. Don't 

 cut off the top. Or, if it is so tall that some cutting is neces- 

 sary, prune in a bold and resolute fashion as shown in the 

 hydrangea diagram (p. 124). Branches always start just below 

 the cut, therefore cut so that it will branch out low instead 

 of starting branches five feet from the ground. 



Clematis Paniculata should be cut back in spring, but only 

 enough to keep the vine where you want it. 



Barberries. — If grown as a hedge, Berberis Thunbergii 

 should have spring pruning, but it needs very slight pruning — 

 merely the removal of an occasional branch. The common 

 barberry, Berberis vulgaris, may need a little thinning, but it 

 is naturally more graceful than you can make it by pruning- 

 shears. Best let it alone. 



Spiraeas. — -Summer-flowering spiraeas, such as S. Bumalda 

 and the little S. Anthony Waterer, should be cut back rather 

 closely in early spring, to make them bushy. 



Dogwood. — Red-twigged dogwood and other dogwoods 

 grown for the beauty of their stems are usually allowed to 

 spread and make a thicket. They should be cut down to the 

 ground, for it is the young growths that have the vivid winter 

 color. 



Hydrangea Paniculata Grandiflora. — This shrub is apt to 

 grow ungainly with years unless given a rather drastic cutting 



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