Pruning
I did what I was supposed to do. As soon as the glorious blossoms on our large azalea bush began to look more like limp rags, I pulled out our clippers and began the awful task of pruning. Unlike the vine grower in today’s Gospel, I was not interested in the increase of fruit, but of flowers, but the principle of pruning remained the same; cut away the branches that do not produce and cut down those that do. The immediate result is tragic, as you can see for yourself in the pictures here. It nearly kills me every time I have to do it. But I know from experience that the present agony, both on my part and on the part of the traumatized bush before me, that it is completely worth it. See the rose bushes, above and below, that require their pruning in February before they bloom are now fully recovered and fully covered in buds about to burst. Unfortunately, I delayed too long to prune the blue hydrangea last year so now it is rather ungainly and sprawling all over the place. My
