Nicole - The way to maximize ramification (bushiness) on a branching dicot is to let the branches extend to 4 or 5 leaves, then cut the branches back to 2 leaves, and leave those leaves on the plant to provide food/energy to help push the new growth. Defoliating a plant deprives it of its food source, setting the plant back considerably; and while that is a useful technique for bonsai practitioners to help reduce leaf size and shorten the internodes on mature specimens, it's generally not something you'd do to a large-leafed houseplant. Simply removing the apical meristem (growing tip) of each branch alters the balance between the growth regulators (cytokinin/auxin) that, through their antagonistic relationship, determine whether the branch will elongate or bifurcate (branch). Removing the main source of auxin (the apices) makes cytokinin prevalent and promotes back-budding, primarily from leaf axils, but also immediately distal to old leaf bundle scars and possibly from other adventitious buds as well. How profusely the plant back-buds depends largely on timing and the state of the plant's energy reserves, so there is good reason to make sure the plant is growing robustly when you reduce severely. AL

Purple beech (including 'Purpurea Tricolor') grow quite large here as do purple and yellow-variegated forms of sycamore maple. This last tree, however is rare in my area. Large 'Zebrina' western redcedar are dotted about, these appear to have a tendency to produce a broader specimen than typical. The biggest (total volume) one I've measured (65' X 13'7" X 40', 1992) was in Greenwood Cemetary, Renton WA. Maybe it's still there. I zeroed in on this tree but completely overlooked the Hendrix marker. Some taller ones from Van Pelt, Champion Trees of Washington State (1996, University of Washington, Seattle) include: Cedrus deodara 'Aurea' 87' 1993 Vancouver Chamaecyparis lawsoniana 'Lutea' 76' 1993 Snohomish Chamaecyparis lawsoniana 'Stewartii' 80' 1993 Bremerton Chamaecyparis lawsoniana 'Westermanii' 67' 1995 Tacoma Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Aurea' 66' 1992 Seattle Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Plumosa Aurea' 75' 1992 Tacoma Fagus sylvatica 'Purpurea Tricolor' 73' 1995 Brinnon Liquidambar sytraciflua 'Variegata' 66' 1995 Seattle Populus X canadensis 'Serotina Aurea' 99' 1992 Puyallup Robina pseudoacacia 'Frisia' 72' 1992 Auburn Thuja plicata 'Zebrina' 76' 1993 Olympia

I think I have a spot that recieves AM sun, in the front yard that would like nice for a hydrangea in tree form. Would anyone have pics of a limelight grown this way? Thanks in advance, sandyinva

Hi Jesse, I’m wondering if you water thoroughly and fully. I would not bother with distilled water with this plant, but they do need a thorough watering when being watered—like gushing out the drainage hole like a heavy rainstorm would bring. I’d also agree—misting is completely unnecessary. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more arid area than Nevada and mine aren’t bothered by the dryness at all, despite their “tropical” origin. The bigger concern would be that your soil is *probably* not porous enough to properly (and rapidly) dry after a massive drenching. I’m attaching a photo here of one of my Ficus plants that I pulled up just to change out the pot I didn’t like. This is about 30 minutes after watering/draining. You can see that the soil is void of total wetness/sogginess but lightly damp throughout. The soil itself is good, but the additional perlite (pumice) aids in that a lot.