I have thinned out the bottom half which was a maze of criss crossed branches, many of them angled downwards. 3/4 of the Cotinus is supported by the left hand main branch, and the rest on the one on the right. I need to get my ladders just to deal with the top this afternoon. I've definitely managed to thin it out, but it may take me a little while to get a good shape out if it. Still - it's given my dog somewhere to hide...
@ERICS MUM you are not wrong about the growth rate of this thing!
Also - now that I've cut it back, I realise it's hardly massive at all!
@nickoslester93f3fKIn, looking at the last photo, I would be inclined to cut that right hand branch back after the curved bit, where it starts to grow more upright. The branch doesn't look thick enough to support the growth at the top and looks like it might well snap in high winds.
I think I would now wait until spring. Once all the leaves have gone, you’ll get a better idea of its future growth pattern. Personally, I would take those remaining main stems down to a height of about 1 foot. Then try to develop a more rounded shrub with a good framework by selectively pruning out new shoots as they develop during next year’s growing season.
It is certainly easier to get the shape you want if you follow @Plantminded advice rather than trying to train what you have now into what you want. We are lucky with ours as it is so large we only see it looking up, so it might be ugly to the neighbours but it looks nice from our viewpoint.
@Lizzie27 Funny you should say that, I was thinking the same too. Because of lack of care over a few years it's what I was kind of left with..
@Plantminded I presume you mean you would take the stems down in Spring, and not now? I'm good with this as a lot of my shrubs have had to take a hard renovation, so to put one back half a year might not be a bad thing altogether!
@thevictorian Makes sense. I may have to put the lack of proper care over the past years down to experience and suffer a few years of a smaller (but better) specimen
@Plantminded I'm back on this - and I think I _want_ to be bolder as I am tidying up it's backdrop in the border, and there are a load of abelia behind which are growing leggy because of the light shadow from the Cotinus - I think. RHS reckons I can prune hard up to early spring - what do you think take it down to a low framework?
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next spring I will prune/trim into a lollipop shape (it’s a small one-trunk tree).
all summer I will snip branches off as they “go rogue” and grow 12 inches overnight.
@ERICS MUM you are not wrong about the growth rate of this thing!
Also - now that I've cut it back, I realise it's hardly massive at all!
@Plantminded I presume you mean you would take the stems down in Spring, and not now? I'm good with this as a lot of my shrubs have had to take a hard renovation, so to put one back half a year might not be a bad thing altogether!
@thevictorian Makes sense. I may have to put the lack of proper care over the past years down to experience and suffer a few years of a smaller (but better) specimen
Do you think there might be an opportunity to allow it to fill out a bit before i take the main branches down, or do I need to be bolder?
Personally, I’d be bolder but it’s quite a demanding regime in my garden😊!
I'm back on this - and I think I _want_ to be bolder as I am tidying up it's backdrop in the border, and there are a load of abelia behind which are growing leggy because of the light shadow from the Cotinus - I think.
RHS reckons I can prune hard up to early spring - what do you think take it down to a low framework?
Sorry to bring an old thread back to life!