Training Beautiful Flowering Shrubs
into Unique Ornamental Trees
by Michael J. McGroarty
There is nothing more beautiful than a flowering shrub in
full bloom, except maybe a flowering shrub in full bloom
that has been trained to grow as a single stem tree. Imagine
having a fragrant Viburnum Tree next to your patio or
outside your bedroom window, waking up to such a wonderful
aroma.
Click here to
see how I grow Weeping Pussy Willow from cuttings, then
train them into single stem trees.
Don’t confuse
what I am about to explain here with the common technique of
grafting flowering shrubs on to the tall stem of some sort
of rootstock. Grafting is very effective, but not so easy to
do. This is much easier. Not only that, when you train the
shrub to grow into a single stem tree, you can end up with
some very interesting plants.
Training a
flowering shrub to grow into a single stem tree is actually
pretty simple. The younger the shrub you start with, the
easier it is to train. I have a friend who grows thousands
of Tree Hydrangeas a year, and this is how he trains them.
The variety that he grows for this purpose is P.G.
Hydrangea. (hydrangea paniculata grandiflora) This is the
one with the huge white snowball blooms.
He starts with
rooted cuttings and lines them out in the field about 30”
apart. The first year he allows them to grow untouched as
multi-stem shrubs. Being a fast growing shrub, they
typically produce 3 to 4 branches that grow to a height of
about 3 to 4’ that first season. The following spring he
goes into the field, examines each plant and selects the one
stem that is the straightest, and is likely to grow straight
up from the roots if tied to a stake.
He then clips
all of the other branches as close to the main stem as
possible. Then he pounds a stake in the ground as close to
the main stem as possible, and clips the tip off the single
stem that is left. This forces the plant to set lateral buds
just below where he clipped the top off, rather than
continue growing straight up. These lateral buds will grow
into branches that will form the head of the tree. He then
ties the stem to the stake.
As it begins to
grow, any buds that appear below that top group of buds are
picked off to keep the single stem tree form. That’s all
there is to it. You can use almost anything as a stake, and
just tie the stem to the stake with a piece of cloth. I also
anchor plants to stakes with a single wrap of duct tape. I
find that if I only wrap the tape once, the sun will dry the
glue and the tape will fall off by itself in about 12
months. ½” electrical tubing (conduit) also makes a good
stake, and is just a couple of bucks for a 10 foot piece.
You can do the
same thing with an older established shrub if you can find
one branch that can be tied to a vertical stake. The stem is
likely to be crooked and not too smooth because of the
wounds from where the branches were removed, but that
doesn’t mean that you can not create an interesting plant.
Some of the shrubs that make beautiful and unique ornamental
trees are many varieties of Viburnums, Burning Bush, Winged
Burning Bush, Red and Yellow Twig Dogwoods, Weigelia,
Mockorange, Rose of Sharon, and Flowering Almond.
I’m sure there
are many more. My favorite shrub to train into a single stem
tree is Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick. In shrub form this
plant is extremely interesting with it’s twisted and
contorted branches. The new growth is reminiscent of a pig’s
tail. Using the same technique as described above I select a
single stem, tie it to a stake, and train it to grow as a
single stem tree. The effect is totally unique.
Call your local
garden stores and ask them if they have a Harry Lauder’s
Walking Stick plant. Give it a try, I’m sure you’ll have fun
as well as create some very interesting plants for your
landscape.
Michael J.
McGroarty is the author of this article. Visit his most
interesting website,
http://www.freeplants.com
and sign up for his excellent gardening newsletter. Article
provided by
http://gardening-articles.com.
|
