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Rowan tree grown leggy
gina.strudwickLy-isGNS
Posts: 4
We have recently moved house and have cut back a huge Camellia. A Rowan tree has grown up through it and consequently has a long, thin single trunk with branches starting at the top third. It’s very spindly so I’d like to cut the top to try and encourage side growth - would this work? It’s about 25’ tall now.
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I had a similar self seeded rowan.
I didn't want it to get too high so I cut the trunk almost back to the ground.
That caused it to send up some more stems from the ground.
The following year I cut those back to the ground.
I now have a rowan that is about 15ft with about 8 stems.
If it is very spindly but now gets good light, you could cut it right back to get more stems from the base of the plant.
It's basically a type of pruning called coppicing
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
In the sticks near Peterborough
I would favour the camellia over a seedling rowan, and continually prevent the rowan from resprouting until it dies.
I tried the same technique on a "Debbie" camellia that had grown too big in the wrong place. I cut it down to about 5 ft and continued to strip off all new growth over a 3 year period. The 5ft stem was to give me some leverage in eventually removing the root. In the end, I was unable to prevent the camellia from growing. So Debbie won, I relented, it's still there.
The rowan might be useful as shade for the camellia. That is another issue.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
In summer the branches a laden with bright berries for the birds, then the attractive ferny foliage takes on its fabulous autumn colours.
Camellia looks like a green blob for most of the year - then get 10 days of stunning flowers which look awful when they're dead hanging on the bush, and that's it.
They provide no food for wildlife either.
I'd keep the rowan
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
If you're in a dry area, both will struggle, if they're planted in a very sunny site, the camellia will struggle. Rowans can also be moved without too much effort, so you may want to bear that in mind.
A photo would be useful to give an idea of the way they're both growing.
Many rowans arrive courtesy of birds. They're not always in an ideal position though.
I'd agree with @Pete.8 though - I'd always favour the rowan for the reasons given, but I'm lucky in that I could have both in close proximity.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...