I love it. It makes perfect sense. I before I even read your thoughts however had a bold picture in my mind of your Larix kaempferi 'Diana'. A perfect 'straight' (naturally contorted.. trunk/tree) still falls into the cateogory of 'you might as well fix it while you can'.

You know what you're doing. Still I plan ahead big-time though ken, no kidding. If a dwarf has unwanted leaders poking through, I remove them as I see them. Fortunately, growth rates and sizes are known for cultivars so I can plan ahead, while your's may be twice as wide as normal, I know what mine will look like in (40 years) as that's when I'll probalby be dead ...but I'll have never had to take a pruner to them other than to keep them growing, 'staight'.

Again, you're a "master" gardener and in the case of your plants (hint here) there's always plenty of extra scionwood for the picking! For you, for me, for John Doe. Let's call it, "recylcing." :)

................Dax

i have seen . in bonsai books.. or jap gardening books...

someone taking rocks .. and rope ... and tying the rock and the tree together.. using the weight to bend leaders over to achieve the windswept look ... if i knew what it was called.. we could google it ...

and i ask why not ... a visitor to the garden will spend more time being awed at the effort.. rather than basically not focusing on another perfect Xmas tree conifer in the yard ...

its all about a 'vision' for your garden ... versus.. someone else preconceived notion of what that tree is supposed to look like ...

but DONT GET ME WRONG.. if you like them all perfectly shaped.. all the power to you ...

ken

PS: diane .. being one of my first ... and planted close to me... grew too well ... blocking the acre of conifers behind it... I MADE IT EVEN WEIRDER THIS YEAR ... lol .. dax ... will you learn how to graft larix.. and get me another diana moving.. cuz sooner or later.. i am going to screw this one up completely .. lol .. and then it will irritate me.. and you should all know ... when that happens.. it is just kindling ...

Great ideas Ken! My German neighbor hates my gardens 'cause only one of my conifers is a perfect Xmas tree, the Pseudolarix (and it drops it's needles so she doesn't like that either). She liked it better when my property was ALL perfectly mowed GRRRass... how boring.

Keep up the photography, I do enjoy seeing what you've got growing! Keeps me inspired, I'm thinking about ordering a collection of Sequoiadendrons from Stanley and sons, what do you think?

Fred

I agree Ken. I am not as by the book as I always say. Believe me. I think pruning in this 'style' which is simply 'pruning' is very worthwhile. I'm straight...

Fredsbog,

I'm examining a new book for me called 'Conifer Cold Hardiness' and the basic overall synopsis is that tissue of buds and wood needs to be hardened off before it is subjected to "winter winds." Furthermore, a chart is listed for cold hardiness and Sequoiadendron giganteum falls into a maximum threshold of -4 F or -20 C (USDA Zone 7) for this particular Genus. This book will help me to elminate the barbaric USDA zonal system.

I already have in my hands and from Stanley and Sons (2) Sequoiadendron cultivars which they call 'zone 5' and I'm going to try them out here myself, but this doesn't look very promising according to this literature. At best, these babies need a lot of protection. I still have a lot to read yet, but here are notes and a conclusion from this book:

"Conifers exist in a wide range of climatic zones with the highest number of species being found in temperate zones. Some coiferous families (Pinaceae, Cupressaceae, Taxaceae) are distributed over a wide range of climatic zones, whereas others (Cephalotaxaceae, Arauariaceae, Podocarpacae) are absent from colder zones. Southern Hemisphere conifers inhabit only the warmest climatic zones and their measured maximum from resistances are less than those of species from the equivalent zones in the Norther Hemisphere.

Laboratory-determined maximum frost resistances of hardened cut shoots and leaves of conifers are strongly correlated with their climatic zones of origin, but their measured resistances exceed the air temperature limits of their climatic zones. Conifers from the coldest climatic zones tend to have buds with frost resistances that are equal or less than those of their leaves, whereas conifers from warmer climatic zones tend to have buds with frost resistances that are equal or greater than those of their leaves. Factors other than the maximum frost resistance of conifers should be examined to obtain a fuller understanding of conifer distribution."

So origin as well as "meaured resistances" can further play into account, a tree that is supposedly a "strict" (USDA zone 7) with varying hardiness.

Thus taking into account "latitude and altitude". This book furhtermore says:

"(This chapter) has concentrated on the association of maximum frost resistance, trypically of ellaves and shoots of trees, with climatic zone and shown that the two are well correlated. Consequently, trees are unlikely to be damaged in winter and will be most susceptible to damage by unseasonal frosts in autumn (when the plants are hardening), spring (when the plants are (dehardening) and summer (when frost resistance is minimal). Frost resistance varies with both age and developmental stage so that seedlings and newly formed tissues are frequently less froost hardy than trees and hardened tissues. Seasonal hardening of tissues is associated with marked changes in frost resistance (e.g. Repo 1992; Sutinen et al. 1992). Shortening photoperiods and lowered temperatures are associated with increased frost resistance (e.g. Greer and Warrington 1982) while lengthening photoperiods and, in particular, warmer temperatures cause rapid dehardeining (e.g. Greer and Stanley 1985; leinonen et al. 1997).

Distributional limits may not be set by the frost resistance of leaves and buds but by the effects of temperature, and other factors, on reproductive structures and their ability to set see, and upon the survival and maturation of seedlings. A fuller understanding of the distributional limits of conifers would need to consider such factors in greater detail."

Conifer Cold Hardiness; Francine J. Bigras and Stephen J. Colombo (Eds.). ISBN: 0-7923-6636-0; 2001 Kluwer Academic Pulishers, Netherlands.

Dax

"Barbaric Fahrenheit" as well. It's funny because as a kid, we were told that the Metric System would be taught to us in my lifetime. It never happened.

Celsius is certainly the way to go as with all Metric measurements. I'm about to turn 34 years old ;)

Dax

Ken, you go ahead and tie bowling bowls to your tree limbs if you want:=)

I don't think unpruned conifers grow "perfectly" or in a "sterile" fashion. They grow naturally, and the efficient arrangement of branches is itself fascinating. It's like the difference between a naturally grown spruce, with its tiered cascading branches and foliage, and one which has been "shaped" to become a Christmas tree. Yuck!

I know the pruning you're talking about is not this, and that you're dealing with some odd, weeping variants. That can be cool. But let's not knock what nature comes up with on her own. That's just arrogant.

+oM

Interesting. Even though this book is quite expensive, I think it is worth purchasing for the insights it will provide. Thanks for the info, Dax.

I have a dwarf Sequoiadendron that I purchased from Stanley that I am leaving outside. We'll see what happens this winter... Since the plant is so small, I may try planting it on the south side of my house near the foundation and then shading the plant from the winter sun. It may have a chance there.
Mike

cooool. "balls" tom, "balls" - :=)

Later. I'm outta this one.

You're welcome Mike, and "all."

D.