HOW TO PRUNE YOUR SHRUBS 



H. P. rose pruned for 

 quality roses (cut out all 

 except dark branches ) 



or split it down — a clean cut heals easily. Rub a little fresh 



earth on the cut. 



Next come the "suckers." Many of the finest roses and 



most named varieties of azaleas and hlacs are grafted or budded 



plants, that is, the root of the plant — 



the "stock" — ^is of a sturdy, common 



sort; the top of another, rarer sort. 



Even on the stem of a very old plant it is 



easy to see where the budding has been 



done; catalogues often give a diagram 



showing this. Anything that grows up 



from below the bud is a "sucker" and 



should be promptly cut off — ^it saps the 



vitality of the plant and is not the sort 



you wanted. Although budded roses are 



more vigorous and long-lived than those 



grown on their own roots — that is, with 



root and top both of the fine sort — most nurserymen prefer to 



sell "own root" roses to amateurs for the uncomplimentary 

 reason that the buyer rarely knows a sucker 

 when he sees it, and that, if he does, he 

 will not be likely to keep them cut out, 

 and then he will complain, "I bought such 

 a variety of rose, and now look at this 

 thing." It is in order to discourage 

 "suckers" that folk are urged to plant 

 budded roses with the bud three inches 

 below the soil. 



Dead wood and "suckers" out, then 

 comes thinning. If you care more to have 



large rose-bushes than to grow fine roses, then much thinning 



is unnecessary — simply cut out interfering branches. But if 



127 



Rose-bush pruned for 

 abundant roses 



