Evening star., 1942-05-31

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easy then to neglect the shrubs for
new leaves. Nevertheless, now is the
time to give our spring -flowering
shrubs attention If we would have
them free-flowering and healthy, as
well as maintaining their indi-
yiduality.
All pruning is designed to keep
shrubs and trees in normal healthy
growth, to maintain Towering of the
best character, and to remove old,
useless wood; wood that is apt to
breed disease and insect pests. The
season for such pruning is largely
determined by the processes of bud
formation. Practically every one of
the spring Towering shrubs develop
their flower buds in the summer
and fall. 1t is only common sense,
then, to prune them before the buds
start to form. On the other hand,
where flower buds are produced on
new growth-current season-we
should prune in the early spring to
stimulate the new growth. But our
subject today Is the pruning Of the
spring Towering shrubs.
Generally speaking, it is not wise,
except when used as hedge, to
prune all shrubs to any one pat
tern. They tend to lose their in
dividuality and distinctiveness.
Then, too, the variations in site,
soil, sunshine, as we'll as their in
herent habit of growth, makes each
shrub or tree a distinct problem.
Thus pruning can be best described
as an objective and the gardener
must decide on the actual cutting
with the desired goal in mind.
Old wood seldom bears as fine
flowers or as prolific crops of bios
SONS as new wood. If the old wood
is allowed to remain in some kinds
of shrubbery the blossoms soon
become more or less localized on
the uppermost tips of the branches.
This leaves an eXpanSe Of bare un-
slightly old wood at the base of the
plant.
To keep the wood young and pro-
ductive it is usually recommended
that from one-fourth to third
of the canes be removed each year
the oldest canes being cut out.
These canes are cut off as near the
ground as possible In the case of
the bridal wreath each cane comes
from the surface of the ground and
so in pruning the branches are re-
moved at the surface. Others, such
as the weigela and the bush honey
suckle, may be branches from
a large trunk. These can only be
cut off at the trunk. paint the cuts
to prevent diSeaSeD
BY removing fixed proportion of
the branches each year the entire
top of the shrub is renewed every
few years. When such program is
followed at the proper season, new
growth is stimulated and the
healthy young shoots produced give
the finest bloom. Usually they are
the most graceful in line as we'll as
being covered with flowers from
base to tip.
1t is the oldest canes that nor
mally are the breeding points for
disease and insect pests. The re-
moval of such points OF infection
does much to maintain the health
and vigor of all plants. Simply cut
ting off the tops of old canes does
not serve this purpose. They should
be cut off just as near the ground
as possible.
The removal of a substantial part
of the canes allows sunlight to en-
ter into the center of the shrub
This serves a tWo-fold purpose:
First, sunlight is a splendid disin-
fectant, and tends to reduce disease
troubles. Secondly, where there is
sunlight leaves tend to grow and
hide unsightly wood. And, of course,
the more leaves, the more strength
plant develops.
Where pruning is confined to the
ends of the branches Gin an en-
deavor to keep the shrub at normal
height) the new shoots instead of
starting near the ground appear
near the tips of the branches. Us
ually several shoots start from the
top of a branch and look like the
bars in a bird cage. This not only
gives the shrub an unnatural habit
of growth which is Stilted and
top-heavy, but it tends to keep
pushing the growth higher and
higher with consequently a larger
bare legged" section below.
Another advantage of the $50
called" drastic type of pruning is
that it keeps the top in balance
with the root system. If for any rea-
son the roots are not functioning
normally, the top will be in balance
with the supplies of food and mois-
ture provided.
Where shrubs are keep well wa
tered and fed there is definite
tendency for them to grow to large
size. Usually this means that they
outgrow their space in the course of
four or five years. Since few gar
deners are willing to thin their
shrub borders to allow for this
growth, the pruning should be
stepped up to the point where it
keeps the size of the shrub down.
To do this we ordinarily remove
a larger proportion of the canes
each year. On the other hand, this
points to the advisability of feeding
shrubs after they are once well
established. Frankly, the use of
fertilizer around shrubs in the small
yard seems undesirable so long as
the growth is healthy.
Where a shrub normally tends to
grow too tall or too broad for its
situation, in addition to the removal
of canes or branches as outlined
above, one should pinch or cut back
the new shoots as they develop. Re
member that two shoots or two
branches will not normally grow as
tall or have as great a spread as
one. In making this check, do not
wait until more than two or three
side buds have developed.