Pruning

Even those who prefer a naturalistic landscape need to prune - if only to prevent Nature's indiscriminate scything. Mother Nature doesn't prune. She culls. Ice storms and gale-force winds scour the landscape for the vulnerable. They haphazardly lop and wrench, tear and fell, leaving chunks of debris and big holes in the scenery. Regular judicious pruning can both sculpt the view and help cut down on debris. "Careful pruning makes a plant, especially larger trees, much more tolerant of high winds," says Vic Priapi, owner of Priapi Gardens in Cecilton.

AND NOW for something completely different - performance pruning, or why Mr. Ernest DeLune ultimately did not go through with his plan to hire a helicopter to top trees along a familiar skyline in one of your finer sections of Baltimore County on the next-to-last-day of 2004. A surprising number of readers contacted this columnist during the holidays to inquire whether Mr. DeLune - that's a pen name for a man who would prefer that his neighbors not know that he sees four mental health professionals on a regular basis - had executed plans to engage in "performance pruning" in the area of Falls Road and the Green Spring Valley.

Not knowing why to cut, when to cut or where to cut can make pruning one of the most terrifying maintenance jobs in the home landscape. The first cut can be the scariest, as it is for the child climbing into the barber's chair for the first time. All pruning is potentially harmful because each cut creates a wound that takes energy to close and can provide entry for insects and diseases. But like a good haircut, a good pruning job can rejuvenate and restore. (Just ask anyone who has brought an unruly lilac under control.

This is getting too heavy," says Frances West, brushing her hand against one in a line of 75-year-old boxwoods. To the untrained eye the bush looks fine: green, full, shiny, disease-free. "It needs more light and air," West explains, "to encourage growth and keep it healthy." She points to another boxwood nearby whose roundness is broken by occasional empty spaces. West pauses to study the bush in question. She stands away, silently focusing on it, then steps back up, reaches in and snaps off one shoot, then several with her fingers.

Jane Baldwin will tell you what is necessary to do in the garden during these days of oblique light and hurrying dusks. She is a volunteer at Cyllburn Arboretum, that treasury of local flora that sprawls over 176 hilly and wooded acres of north Baltimore.Baldwin and the other volunteers give free seminars there. They will teach you to grow African violets, make compost, prune the plants in your care. People come by, watch the demonstrations, then leave eager to try out the newly learned techniques.

Many gardeners approach the annual rite of pruning ornamental trees and shrubs with fear and trepidation.Years of folklore have done their work well. Some people believe that an improper cut may scar an expensive tree or shrub for life. Others think that to spare the rod is to spoil the child, in that an unpruned plant is apt to become an unruly mess. This leaves many gardeners feeling stuck between a rock and a hard place.And yet, as in many of life's perplexing situations, the answer is often found by applying common sense and a few simple rules.

When Gen. George Washington traveled through Annapolis to the State House to resign as commander in chief of the Continental Army in 1783, he rode under a canopy of trees. More than 200 years later, the majestic sycamores and white oaks still line this route down Generals Highway in Anne Arundel County -- or at least they used to be majestic. Recently, a large number of trees along the historic road were trimmed, hacked and whacked by contract workers hired by Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. Anne Arundel County Executive Janet S. Owens, who travels the road daily between her home in Millersville and government offices in Annapolis, was horrified when she saw the aftereffects this month.

Ladew Topiary Gardens, 3535 Jarrettsville Pike, Monkton, is holding a series of talks by its professional gardeners, who will give behind-the-scenes views of plant care and demonstrations this spring and summer. "In the Garden" includes a nature walk at 9:30 a.m., before the program. The cost is $10 for nonmembers and free for members. Scheduled programs are: composting, May 1; guided walking tour of trees and shrubs, May 5; wisteria pruning, June 26; espalier pruning, July 1; yew shearing, July 8; pond care, July 15; climbing rose pruning, July 22; boxwood shearing, July 29; repotting, Aug. 12; turf maintenance, Aug. 19; hemlock shearing, Sept.

Stars at Hood Hood College welcomes stargazers to its Frederick campus this spring. Each Wednesday evening through May 5, astronomy lecturer Ken Howard will answer guests' questions as they view stars and planets from the Williams Observatory's telescope. Visiting hours for this event are 8:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m. Hood College is at 401 Rosemont Ave., Frederick. Call 301-696-3679 or visit www. hood.edu. Tea from scratch Brew your own tea Saturday and Sunday at the Marshy Point Nature Center.

I have to rethink my garden because of deer damage. What shrubs won't deer eat? There are no guarantees. Where deer populations are very high, they eat just about anything. Usually American holly, osmanthus, viburnums, caryopteris, rose of Sharon, butterfly bush, sweet box, Oregon grape holly, red osier dogwood and boxwood are reliable survivors. Many plants do well once they're established, if protected by fencing or repellents when small and tender. Resist planting barberry or other nonnative invasive plants.