PRUNING FLOWERING TREES 19 



Many shrubs which have been in one place for 

 some years, and which have become stunted or 

 poorly flowered, are often given a new lease of life 

 by a hard pruning in the winter, cutting away all 

 the old wood entirely, and shortening the remainder. 

 With a good feeding at the same time, they will 

 throw up strong young shoots, full of vigour, which 

 will bear fine and well-coloured flowers. Of course, 

 a season of blooming will be lost by doing this, but 

 it will be amply compensated for in after years by a 

 healthy plant in place of a decrepit and unsightly 

 one. The list appended includes practically every 

 flowering tree and shrub hardy in this country, with 

 the proper time of pruning it. Those not specified 

 flower on the old wood. 



Abelia. — ^This genus is barely hardy, and, in most 

 localities, is usually pruned sufficiently or too much 

 by frost. A moderate thinning of the shoots in 

 spring is sufficient. 



ACANTHOPANAX There are three species of this 



genus hardy in this country, and of these A. ricini- 

 foKum requires no pruning beyond the cutting away 

 of side-shoots to a single stem, as it attains the 

 dimensions of a tree in Japan, its native country. 

 A. sessiliflorum and A. spinosum are low-growing 

 shrubs, and require an occasional thinning out, which 

 is best done in late summer to allow the remainder 

 to thoroughly ripen before winter. 



ACTINIDA. — A climbing genus, easily grown in 

 warm, sheltered localities. They require very little 

 pruning, but should be watched in spring when 



