Once I hired someone to do some pruning at our country home and the fellow who pruned by simply cutting off the lower limbs. He is the same “bird” who was given five or six packages of strawberry plants to set out in beds by varieties. He opened up ALL packages at one time, and proceeded to let the wind blow the labels away. I could console myself that few of the plants lived anyway. He set them too deep, and just wadded the roots in without properly spreading them.

Around the back edges of the lot I had just let all of the plums and red buds grow. They were almost becoming a hedge in spots. I had neglected doing a reasonable bit of pruning each year. So this winter I went in there with radical chopping in my heart and with a chain saw in one hand and a bow saw in another, I really gave them a trimming. Cut out all but a single trunk on each tree, and cut off all limbs, leaving just a crown.

Just in case any of you get encouraged to go in and do a lot of pruning, let me warn you that some things should not be pruned now – February. The flower buds on forsythia, lilacs, flowering quince, spirea, and all ornamental flowering trees form during the summer on the current year’s growth. So wait until after they have bloomed before pruning. If you are going to prune them, however, do so right after they have finished blooming, so there will be time for the next season’s buds to form.

Humans are not the only creatures that get the urge to be up and about before the proper season is really here. We, of course, have had some birds all winter and have kept the cafeteria going. Now we see an occasional flicker and meadow lark. This means that the cedar waxwings are not far behind them.

We have mocking birds here the year around, contrary to what the bird books say.

All of you have undoubtedly read or heard of unusual antics of birds. It always seemed to be some exotic birds in a distant land. But the other afternoon, we saw for the first time in our lives, a couple of mocking birds put on a show that was not only new, but a thriller to us.

Then, facing each other they would fly a few feet into the air in almost a vertical plane with claws drawn up almost like a human’s clenched fists. They would then come almost together, but not quite touching. Then back to the ground and through their routine again. Needless to say, we were fascinated.

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