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Old shrubs and overgrown material should be thinned out by re-moving some branches to the base of the plant. This will allow sunand air to reach the base of the plant and encourage growth at thebottom. The dogwoods, globe flowers, and similar shrubs lose thebright colour of their wood as they age. The old wood should beremoved to encourage new growth. Evergreens. Evergreens need but little pruning. The pruningof evergreens is done to secure formal shapes, to thicken growth,or to preserve symmetry. Tips of branches should be sheared inthe spring just before they start growing. Begin pruning a yearafter planting and continue each succeeding year. Evergreens dryout more rapidly than deciduous growth and as they make muchgrowth in the early spring, wounds from spring cutting heal rapidly.April is a good month for this work in the northern states. Pinch-ing back of buds at any time in order to thicken the growth is allthe pruning that most evergreens require. Shearing for formalshapes must be done carefully and a portion of the past season's growthallowed to remain on the plants. Many evergreens such as the plume-shaped cypress^ Lawson's cypress, and the arborvitae will respond tosevere pruning operations. These plants grow vigorously under idealconditions and during the growing season it is not infrequent that theyrequire pruning two or three times. Rarely are evergreens prunedfor the purpose of removing branches which are crowding, and onlyunder very abnormal conditions is it necessary to prune evergreensin order to remove dead or diseased branches. |
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