Renton, Washington 
BONNELL NURSERIES 
PLANTING HINTS 
HOW TO KEEP NEW TREES AND SHRUBS 
ALIVE AND HAPPY 
The first two years after you plant the new tree 
or shrub from the nursery are the vital years. They 
are critical, in fact. We try earnestly to offer only 
those shrubs and trees with sound, well-developed 
root systems. In order to have them take hold 
rapidly, we think the following suggestions should 
be followed by every home gardener: (1) Use lots 
of water during those first two critical years, espe- 
cially if we encounter more dry summers like the 
last few. (2) Prepare your garden site well, before 
you try to plant. Work peat moss into the ground 
and make the hole big. (3) Apply root-stimulating 
mixtures. We have plenty of one of the best of 
them, Miller’s BOOSTER POWDER. Just mix it at 
the rate of one tablespoon per gallon of water, in 
your sprinkling can or bucket, and water the newly- 
transplanted tree or shrub copiously. Do it once in 
the fall, if transplanting is done in fall, and four 
or five times in spring and summer, beginning in 
March. BOOSTER POWDER contains the _ root- 
stimulating hormones as well as a nicely-balanced 
mixture of the fertilizers the new-forming roots 
of the trees and shrubs need. 
THE PRUNING OF FLOWERING SHRUBS 
Most of the flowering shrubs we use in our home 
plantings belong in the “spring-flowering” class. 
We have many other kinds, of course. In fact, if 
the home gardener wishes to create the easiest-to- 
maintain planting, of things which will produce lots 
of bloom most all year ‘round, we suggest you 
follow the listing below which includes types for 
almost every time of year. For the most part, how- 
ever, our home grounds are planted with the 
“‘spring-flowering” types. Because they flower in 
spring, the only safe time to do much pruning is» 
immediately after the blooms have faded. The new 
flower buds, for the next year, are produced during 
July, August and September. If you prune heavily 
in fall you will remove next season’s flower buds. 
Pruning is not as difficult as it sometimes seems. 
The basis of it is to take out those branches which 
are growing out-of-bounds, and take them out far 
back down in the crown of the shrub. That way you 
get yearly regrowth of new branches from the lower 
parts of the plant, thus assuring you of maintain- 
ing a better, more natural form in the shrub. 
The spring-flowering shrubs which should be 
pruned immediately after blooming are those which 
have finished by about June first. June-flowering 
and summer-flowering bushes (roses, for example) 
are better pruned in early spring, just before 
growth starts. 
HOW DEEP TO PLANT 
The proper depth to plant trees and shrubs seems 
often to baffle home gardeners. The simplest, most 
basic rule is to set them just a little deeper than 
they grew in our nursery rows. Evergreens have a 
ball of soil about their roots. The top of the ball 
should be barely covered. With fruit trees, and any 
others which come to you bare-rooted, look for the 
“soil-stain,’ a distinctly marked line which shows 
how deep the soil stood around the trunk in the 
nursery. Planting trees and shrubs too deeply, 
especially in soils where water may stand even for 
a short time in winter months, will almost certainly 
result in failure to survive. First step in planting 
should always be to check the drainage. Make cer- 
tain the surplus water from winter rains will run 
off rapidly. It may be necessary to open up the 
soil as by mixing sand or sawdust with it, as well 
as to put in a drain-tile system. 
BONNELL’S ESTABLISHED 1897 —55 YEARS OF CONTINUOUS SERVICE 
FOR MORE SUCCESSFUL GARDENING 
YOUR MONEY ‘GROWS’ ON TREES 
AND SHRUBS 
Most things we buy for our homes deteriorate and 
become less valuable with each passing year. Not 
so with the trees and shrubs in the garden. They 
actually grow larger, more beautiful and much 
more valuable every season. They become more 
valuable from the standpoint of just plain dollars 
as well as by virtue of their increasing beauty as 
they develop to maturity. The money you put into 
trees and shrubs is the soundest investment you 
can make. 
SHRUBS FOR ALL-YEAR BLOOM 
WINTER-FLOWERING— 
Mediterranean Heather (Erica darleyensis) 
Chinese Witch Hazel (Hamamelis Mollis) 
Wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox) 
EARLY SPRING— 
Korean azalea (Rhododendron mucronulatum) 
February Daphne (Daphne Mezereum) 
Golden Bells (Forsythia) 
Rhododendrons (Rosa Mundi, Unknown Warrior) 
Thunberg’s Spiraea (Spiraea Thunbergii) 
Flowering Cherry (Autumn Cherry) 
Flowering Plums (Blirieana and Pissardi) 
Early Heaths and Heathers 
SPRING AND EARLY SUMMER— 
Rhododendrons 
forms) 
(Many varieties, all excellent 
Azaleas (Many of the most outstanding types) 
Mock Orange (Philadelphus) 
Lilacs (In many color forms) 
Roses (All the best varieties) 
SUMMER FLOWERING— 
Butterfly Bushes (Buddleias) 
California Lilacs (Ceanothus) 
Hydrangeas (PeeGee and Florist’s types) 
Abelias. 
Escallonias 
Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus varieties) 
Heaths and Heathers in wide variety 
LATE SUMMER AND FALL— 
Fall-flowering Heaths and Heathers 
Sasanqua Camellias 
Autumn Cherry 
Strawberry Tree (Arbutus Unedo) 
Blue Beard (Caryopteris) 
Clematis paniculata 
Roses, the best Hybrid Tea and Floribunda types. 
SIMPLIFIED WINTER AND EARLY-SPRING 
CARE OF TREES AND SHRUBS 
Answering the many questions that come to us 
about tree and shrub care, in the briefiest, sim- 
plest way: 
(1) Fertilize your trees and shrubs. Either in the 
fall (especially with trees) or in early spring, 
use ample amounts of a good, well-balanced 
fertilizer for all trees and shrubs. This is one 
of the most neglected of all garden practices. 
An application of fertilizer followed by the 
spreading of a two-inch mulch of peat moss, 
compost or leaf mold will do wonders to spread 
the normal, natural and most beautiful ma- 
turity of all trees and shrubs. Flowering 
shrubs, when planted in shade, require 50% 
more fertilizer than those out in the open. 
(2) Always spray trees and shrubs (those which lose 
their leaves, particularly) during winter with 
LIQUID LIME SULPHUR with SPREADER. Dis- 
eases of roses, fruit trees, all the cane berries, 
magnolias, Japanese maples, lilacs, flowering 
almonds, spireas, and the like can be kept well 
in check by regular use of this spray. 
(3) Flowering shrubs like sunshine, and _phos- 
phorus. Even the so-called shade-loving shrubs 
will bloom much better if they get full light 
from the sky above and to the north. In hot,. 
south-facing locations be careful with the 
broad-leaved evergreens like Rhododendrons, 
Camellias, Andromedas, etc. They will grow 
under such conditions, but it pays to be atten- 
tive during the first four or five years of their 
growth. The south wall of a house or garage 
is a very severe site during these first years. 
Always use a deep, loose mulch, applied each 
spring. Fertilize regularly. Since phosphorous 
is the most vital of all the needed food ele- 
ments that are concerned with producing more 
and bigger flowers (and fruits) be sure to add 
some extra superphosphate or bone meal 
along with the complete fertilizer. 
(4) Some of our most beautiful shrubs like Rhodo- 
dendrons, Camellias and Roses, are bothered 
by insects and diseases, such as root-eating 
weevils and leaf-killing mildews. Treat the 
soil once a year with SOILDUSTO for below- 
ground pests, and regularly dust branches and 
foliage with GARDUSTO. These two materials 
give basic control of all the commonest insects 
and diseases. 
(5) To fertilize each year, making sure you are 
using plenty of phosphorous to stimulate the 
roots, especially with newly-transplanted trees 
and shrubs; to spray each winter with dormant- 
strength LIQUID LIME SULPHUR with SPREAD- 
ER; to use mulches of peat, sawdust, compost 
or leaf mold; and to make certain the trees 
and shrubs are getting plenty of light and 
water... these are the keys to your success 
with them. 
SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR ACID-LOVING PLANTS 
(Azaleas, Rhododendrons, Camellias, etc.) 
These varieties must have almost perfect drain- 
age. Dig deep, wide spacious holes, adding coarse 
gravel at the bottom in very moist, heavy adobe 
soils. Fill in with soil to bring plant crown exactly 
at ground level. Soil mixture should be two parts 
of peat moss or leaf mold to one part of garden 
loam. Soak with a slow stream of water. Mulch 
with peat moss and maintain soil moisture through- 
out the year. 
The above picture shows a balled and burlapped 
shrub placed in a spacious hole. Topsoil has been 
added to a point about halfway up the ball. The 
next step is to cut the top strings binding the 
burlap to the ball. Fold back the burlap as shown 
in the picture, then fill in with more topsoil to the 
top of the ball. Do not use manure or fertilizer 
in the soil filled in around the plant. 
The picture (right) shows a slow stream of water 
settling the filled-in soil around the ball. More 
top soil will need to be added to bring the soil 
even with ground level, but do not add so much 
soil as to bury the base of the trunk. This is very 
important particularly with the conifers and the 
acid-soil group (Camellias, Rhododendrons, Aza- 
leas, Daphne, etc.). Construct a basin around the 
plant with the excess topsoil. 
