I do rather like the usual, I presume largely unnatural, way that olives are grown in the mediterraneum. I would love one of those big, old, rugged ones in a large pot, if I had the right space (and money).
As for roses, I am not an HT fan. Even less so when heavilly pruned. I have Some Albas and Gallicas that run around on their own roots and pop up here and there. But roses are essentially climbers or scramblers, apart from encouraging flowering, pruning has to work hard to achieve a nice bushy shape.
Back to my olive. I am leaning towards training with strings, and perhaps weights. Pulling the high brances into lower positions. I'll wait until late autumn when I won't be using my terrace so much.
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
I thought it may be of interest, as while you (presumably) are not interested in the fruit and oil production, the techniques described may give some pointers towards how you may achieve your somewhat different objective.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
A bit of a bump. But also may be of interested to some.
After observing the effects of recent steady drizzle and wind, I have decided to prune only the centre-top of my standard olive. Allowing the outer edge branches to grow longer and bend down under their own weight. I will let the tree decide how small a head it is happy to have.
I have never protected this tree from frost, but thus winter I might fit a fleece tube over it to encourage the outer branches to fill the lower void. Two birds with one stone.
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
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As for roses, I am not an HT fan. Even less so when heavilly pruned. I have Some Albas and Gallicas that run around on their own roots and pop up here and there. But roses are essentially climbers or scramblers, apart from encouraging flowering, pruning has to work hard to achieve a nice bushy shape.
Back to my olive. I am leaning towards training with strings, and perhaps weights. Pulling the high brances into lower positions. I'll wait until late autumn when I won't be using my terrace so much.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
https://www.oliveoilsource.com/page/olive-tree-pruning
I thought it may be of interest, as while you (presumably) are not interested in the fruit and oil production, the techniques described may give some pointers towards how you may achieve your somewhat different objective.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
After observing the effects of recent steady drizzle and wind, I have decided to prune only the centre-top of my standard olive. Allowing the outer edge branches to grow longer and bend down under their own weight. I will let the tree decide how small a head it is happy to have.
I have never protected this tree from frost, but thus winter I might fit a fleece tube over it to encourage the outer branches to fill the lower void. Two birds with one stone.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."