Here's a quick view inside this guy.

I think a tree shape is feasible- and would look a lot more graceful, IMO. That's an odd, squarish shape, but camellias are very amenable to pruning. You should be able to prune it to any shape you like within a few years.

Unless you have fairly mild summers where you are, I'd hold off on any really drastic pruning until autumn cools things down, just so that the plant doesn't get too stressed.

Some of the trunks would need to go for a tree shape, obviously- but it's usually recommended that you only have a few, anyway- even if you don't want a tree shape. Plants with crowded interiors tend to be more susceptible to scale and fungal problems.

Even though I would wait on major pruning until fall, I don't see any reason why you can't go ahead and get started now with some preparatory thinning out of the interior.

Good luck!

Thank you, vmr423. Very helpful!!

I should have mentioned that fall pruning can reduce the amount of blooms you'll get this upcoming season, but you may have realized that.

Once you've cleaned up the interior, you can decide to prune pretty drastically and remove several trunks, or you can go more slowly to get an idea of how the plant might look best to you. There is no single correct way to prune a camellia, so suit yourself.

Going forward, maintenance pruning is usually done in the spring after the plant has flowered, but before it starts putting out its new leaves and sets its flower buds.

Yeah that plant could easily be a tree shape. Just by selecting which trunk you want and what you like and scraping the other trunks as low or stuby as you can then it would start to look good. it would almost be like someone shaping a bonsai. its going to take time effort and a spark of imagination.

Here is a link that might be useful: TheItalian Garden

I think that any pruning should be done in the late winter, just before new growth gets started. In reality, fall is probably the worst time to prune.

If you prune in the fall, the plant could be pushed into the normal reaction of a plant after pruning.....to GROW new leaves to replace those lost. Pruning is a growth promoting activity, after all.

This can be extremely costly for the plant. It will have already begun its winterizing processes of storing energy reserves in the roots and of hardening off the vegetative growth. Plants must be able get themselves ready for winter.

Plants have a bank of reserves in the roots. In the spring, those reserves are remetabolized so that the plant can begin to grow. If a plant is forced into growth at the worst time possible (the fall, it loses its winter hardiness as well as having to withdraw the stored energy waaaay too early.

The other, more obvious hazard of fall pruning is that you would be removing its winter protection, exposing old wood to freezes and winter winds.

This is true anywhere you live.

I'd give my eye teeth to limb up that tree for you, shaping it into a work of art. Camellias are quite lovely when pruned in that manner. But it does take some knowledge and experience or it will end up looking like a hatchet job. Lots of that going around.

You could also go with the Crape Myrtle look, in which you have multiple trunks instead of just one....

Specimen does not have right structure or placement to attempt to train to look like the tree to the right of it. As it has overwhelmed the space - camellias get a lot bigger than this, by the way, given enough time - I would cut it down to stumps in spring and let it start over from the bottom, to become a smaller, bushier, naturally shaped specimen that will need many years to again become as big as it is now.

If it had not been pruned into a square it would have softened to corner of the house instead of emphasizing it. But will still have been a bit big for that spot, at this stage.

This post was edited by bboy on Sat, Sep 6, 14 at 2:13

That needs a serious pruning

All those inner small branches have to go- no matter what- as they are just taking energy from the plant and giving nothing in return

Rhizo is pretty well spot on as far as I can tell

Would need a closer look @ it- but you might prune back to a few main stalks and go from there--- then keep it trimmed up every year

Leaves make food and branches store it, there is no way for small branches to be taking food away from the plant and giving nothing in return. The concept is like saying your fingers should be cut off because they are draining the rest of your body.

Plants are integrated systems just like we are and will not be routinely holding onto parts that are actively detrimental to the whole. Nor will they be prone to bursting into a bunch of seriously damaging, ill-timed growth at the wrong time of year, merely because they have been pruned or fertilized. Seasonal growth of cold climate adapted plants is regulated by factors like temperature and day (or night) length.

bboy-- you have a lot to learn

Good luck to you