82 
House & Garden 
PRUNING SHRUBBERY TO OBTAIN EFFECTS 
Some Suggestions for Handling the Shrubs 
That Flower in Spring, Summer and Autumn 
CARL STANTON 
WENTY years ago the shrub bed 
shown in the illustration was a beau¬ 
tiful sight to behold. The height 
of the shrubs varied from 2}/ 2 ' for those in 
front to the 8' hardy hydrangea (Hydrangea 
paniculata var. grandiflora) in the center. 
The entire bed comprises part of the foun¬ 
dation planting for a house, which is set 
in the center of four acres of rolling lawn, 
and the shrub bed is thus seen from nearly 
all parts of the estate. Thus it fulfills a 
very important need, in that of “tieing” the 
house into the landscape by forming a con¬ 
necting link between it and the lawn. 
For ten years after planting (until the 
original designer moved away) 
each of these shrubs was care¬ 
fully pruned each year to 
maintain its relative propor¬ 
tion to the others, adding its 
bit of beauty to the whole, and 
yet at the same time flaunting 
a beauty of its own to all who 
cared to notice it. Due to the 
lack of knowledge of the fund¬ 
amentals of pruning, the new 
tenant allowed the shrubs to 
grow as they pleased, with the 
result that the stronger ones 
soon crowded out the slower 
growers, and the whole bed be¬ 
came a miniature wilderness. 
In this state it remained until 
a landscape architect’s super¬ 
intendent bought the estate. 
This last tenant realized the ef¬ 
fect for which the original owner 
was striving when he planted the 
shrub bed, and set about to remedy 
the overgrown condition of the bed, 
and restore it to its former place 
among the beauties of the estate. He 
saw that the hardy hydrangea in the 
center was planned to overtop the 
other shrubs, so that during the fall 
its huge bouquet of flowers might 
stand above the rest, and be seen from the 
far comers of the estate. Yet here it was, 
supposed to be the crown of the bed, en¬ 
tirely hidden by rank-growing viburnums 
and lonicera. It took this expert just four 
hours to restore the intended relations be¬ 
tween the shrubs by careful pruning and yet 
it was so well done that a month later not 
a single stub could be seen as one looked 
from the outside of the bed. 
First, he made it a point to study care¬ 
fully the situation to see just how much 
cutting to do on each shrub to obtain the 
desired effect. He commenced work on one 
of the shrubs on the outside (or front) 
row, working at first from the back of it. 
With a pair of long handled pruning 
shears, and occasionally a saw, he removed 
three or four of the very oldest branches 
(some of them almost trunks) from each 
shrub, making the cut as low down as pos¬ 
sible. (“A” in the drawing.) The next 
step was to shear off one-third of the 
number of oldest branches left, at a point 
equal to about three-quarters of the in¬ 
tended height of the plant. (See “B”.) By 
this time he had taken out the larger per¬ 
centage of the wood he intended to remove, 
and yet the most difficult pruning of all lay 
ahead. The fourth step consisted of cut¬ 
ting off the remaining bran¬ 
ches at approximately the 
height that the shrub was to 
be left. I say “approximate¬ 
ly” for one of the greatest 
fallacies in pruning lies in 
leaving the top of the shrub 
perfectly smooth and even, 
unless, of course, it is a hedge 
plant. The idea is to cut the 
older wood 1' below the de¬ 
sired height (C); the some¬ 
what younger ones, 6 " (D); 
and the last season’s growth 
at the desired height (E) al¬ 
lowing the center to be slight¬ 
ly taller than the outside, as 
is the case with a shrub grow¬ 
ing naturally. Bear in mind 
that each branch should be 
cut just above a new shoot or bud, 
in order that this may grow and 
hide the blunted end. That com¬ 
pletes the work on any one shrub 
at present. 
In determining the height of the 
shrub next to the one he had just 
completed, the pruner recalled its 
characteristics to see whether it 
naturally grew taller or shorter and 
determined its comparative height 
(Continued on page 98) 
The two photographs are 
“after” and “before” 
views. The latter shows 
a rampant growth in 
which the beauty of the 
individual shrubs is lost. 
After pruning, each 
shrub had a chance to 
grow and blossom well 
By studying these dia¬ 
grams of the treatment 
accorded both the high 
and the low shrubs, one 
can see that the first 
process is to cut out the 
old wood (A and B) 
and bring the new growth 
down, as in C, D and E 
I 
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