Sunday, February 16, 2020

Cloud Pruning

The 'Gold Mop' Chamaecyparis pisifera got cloud pruning training session #3 today.
Before.




















After.




















Before.




















It happened after Solly and I went for a short walk in the garden this morning. The little bit of vomit this morning was all hair, no food. That's a good sign.

I'm having a major urge to dispense with the emergency backup bottom skirts on my Niwaki kind bushes. It may be time to cloud prune the bottom and aim for a more tree like form. Some bondage will be required to pull this off. I need to think about how to do that.

This training session might not be quite finished.


2 comments:

Lisa at Greenbow said...

I have a 'Gold Mop' too. It is about this tall and is sort of thin because it is planted too near a maple tree. It only gets a hint of "gold' in early spring when the maple has been naked all winter and GM gets enough sun. You are giving me ideas. Maybe I could make it look cloudy. It is neither green or gold. Weird plant but I have had it so long I would hate to take it out. It grows where it is difficult to get anything to grow which makes it a bit special in my mind.

Christopher C. NC said...

Lisa this pruning style is a long term experiment for sure. So far I am pleased with the direction, but if it goes bad I am not so attached to them that they can't be removed. Plus if left alone again they would fill back in with time.