I really need to get a good camera. Yes. I am keeping them pruned into tight standards. These are fine plants to grow here. If they are grown correctly.
Wow great BUSHES. I'd love to grow a Camellia... but no luck yet. The one I had proved to be not-so-hardy
So, I would like to know how and when you prune them. That's works for me with my non blooming trees, like my contorted willow and fire bushes. Anything that gets flowers, like lilac, I stop them from flowering after trims, of course. I just trim them less often, knowing, I have to give that part up. I have a Southern Magnolia in the greenhouse that is so tall and lanky I will have to give it a the chop chop, next Spring. It must be 12 feet tall. Never flowers for me anyhow. Your bushes are beautiful.
blissful photons, Now you come back here.....we are not letting you run off or get off the hook that easily. We need some answers here.... Please????
Pruning This is tough. First, I want the plant to have a very specific function in the garden. I plan on thirty year plans: what will this look like in ten, twenty, thirty years. Some of my trees planted are sixty year plans. Some, I hope, are way over a hundred years. This would be Taxodium distichum. With this considered, pruning begins with shaping the trunk. Then the lowest branches. After that, it's knowing when it blooms and when to prune for next years buds. Or other specific shapes. You will need some botany skills to determine how the different buds form. And all that other good stuff. Or, you can try it out and in thirty years tell me a better or easier way. For most trees this takes a minimum of five years to get the desired look. Shrimp Plant on the way to Tabula Rasa.
