The Spanish bush type training isn't going to lead to early bearing of cherry. It's likely to delay bearing by a year compared to many other systems. But it looks like a system that would allow a small tree. On rootstocks like Gisela 5 even the Spanish bush won't take long to bear. The new dwarfing cherry root stocks are amazingly precocious compared to Mazzard. Their main problem is over bearing especially on high yielding, precocious cultivars like Sweetheart, Lapins, and Chelen. Those cultivars on G5 or similar will need lots of pruning or fruit thinning to avoid over bearing. Harvestman: Do you really think cherry fruits enough that a heavy crop load will affect vigor, because I don't. Cherries just don't yield enough at a crop load that gives high quality fruit. Plus fruiting is very early in the season with plenty of time after harvest for growth. For crop load to affect vigor very much I think you need a heavy bearing fruit like apple. Most stone fruit, for me, will grow right through a heavy crop if water and fertility promote growth. Do you see it differently?

You're welcome, Bob. Last fall my husband and I went to the Native Plant sale that was held at the SLO Botanical gardens and purchased two of the ceanothus impressus. I do remember the woman selling them to us saying that their ceanothus had been trained into that shape. Ceanothus have evolved to accept grazing from the deer, a little selective pruning (less than an inch in diameter) should be fine. Anyway, I've copied and pasted from their website: http://www.slobg.org/PlantArchive.asp Ceanothus 'El Dorado': Commonly known as the mountain lilac is in the family Rhamnaceae. Originally from California, it can be seen in bed 'A' in the Preview Garden. This evergreen shrub grows to 6 feet in height and width. It has deep blue flowers in the spring and summer and its leaves are dark green with splashes of yellow. The Mountain Lilac is used for a ground cover, on banks, as a background, an accent or a screen in large spaces. It produces leaves that attract caterpillars, pollen and nectar for bees and butterflies and seeds which attract birds. It must be planted in well drained soil and is native to rocky slopes. It should be seldom watered and water should be kept away from the stems. Some supplementary water is required during the summer but should be applied after the soil has dried. It prefers full sun or partial shade in inland areas. After the blooms have faded avoid cutting off limbs more than 1 inch in diameter. Pinch back the shoot tips during the growing season. The roots will rot if exposed to too much water. The Mountain Lilac is native to the chaparral plant community.

the leaf spots could be oedema. search the internet for pics of that condition (has to do with excess moisture). hard to tell from your photo. have a look at dorie's reply (linked below) to a similar thread from this site on pruning a large camellia. i would prune after flowering, before new growth commences. you could remove some of the small branches in conjested areas to give a more open form, especially near the base. start by thinning small stuff and step back and look for the form you want. camellias can recover from severe or rejuvenation pruning although not as quickly as some other plants. looks like there is a major branch headed toward the house. you could take that one off and clean up the trunk a few feet higher but it all depends on what you like. start with a few and go from there. doesn't have to be done all at once. Here is a link that might be useful: pruning a large camellia

The 5 gallon ones here are around $24. I got this at Home Depot and the only reason I got this one that cheap was because I asked one of the workers how much the tree was because there was no price on it, he was rather rude and just said, "i don't know, go ask a cashier, and he walked off." I told the cashier (who didn't even work in the garden section, he was called in from the store to help) how 'rude' the other guy was and he told me he'd give me the tree for the 5 gallon price since the other guy was a jerk. So, that's how come i got it for $24. Why would this be $200-300 in IL? Is the way it's set up "special?" One side isn't really flatter than the other, the trellis is just one one side of the tree, so all the branches were tied up on that side. not sure what it's look like if I took the trellis off. Does the trellis hinder any growth, should i take it off, or just leave it there? Also, what about fertilizer? Do you use citrus fertilizer? By the way, what's a trained Espalier that you mentioned earlier, is mine a trained espalier? what's the purpose of that? Thanks.