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Training
Beautiful Flowering Shrubs into Unique Ornamental Trees
by Michael J. McGroarty -
www.freeplants.com
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. |
