OCR Text |
Show TO BEAUTIFY YARD OR LAWN Japanese Barberry or California Privet Will Soon Make Compact and Ornamental Hedge. (By W. H. C.RINSTEAD.) It takes a number of years to get shade trees large enough to add to the beauty of a yard or lawn, but this is , not the case with ornamental hedge. Japanese barberry or California privet will soon make a compact hedge and there is nothing which will add more to the bare landscape. In this latitude the fall of the year has been found a very satisfactory time to set hedges, though equal results may be had from spring planting. There is one very important thing that should be looked after when the plants are set, and that is the pruning. The ground should be prepared by plowing and manuring heavily witb well rotted manure, a strip two feet wide, theu set the plants six inches apart in this row, if it is to be a single row hedge. If it is to be a double row hedge, set the plants eight inches apart in rows the same width so that the plants will miss or zig-zag. This will make a more compact hedge than the einglo row. , In setting, never leave the whole shrub, but cut back to not more than three inches above the ground. This will cause it to branch at the ground and form a compact growth which can be pruned into shape the following winter and shortened up during the growing season so as to make a pyramidal pyra-midal shape. When a shoot is noticed running up too high it should be pinched off, which will make it throw out branches at the bottom near the ground. These hedges, when properly cared for after being put out right, will turn a dog or cat so compact and dense will be the growth. This plan' of ; treatment is more especially for the California privet. |