You can never have enough...

[Oh_hunnihunni]

My Scottish uncle used to swear by taking a wire brush to the crowns of old roses to jump start new growth. He was a hard man that one, but useful, at 6ft 10 he could reach places no one else could...

It's well known that exerting trauma on plants can generate growth probably as a survival strategy in many cases. Growers of apples, kiwifruit, avocados and numerous other crops practice 'girdling' as a method to enhance flowering and fruiting rates as the plants attempt to reproduce in response to pending harm. The use of the herbicide 'Hi Cane' to maximise flower bud burst by replicating the effects of frost is a similar technique.

Another example is the old proverb: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walnut...alnut_tree Not repeatable under today's sensibilities but an interesting logic for its time.

A wife, a dog, and a walnut tree, the more you beat them, the better they be?

Yup, my Dad taught me that one. Not that he ever beat his wife or any of our dogs...