Now my husband tells me he knew that area was called North Orange, but doesn't think it was a true city with N.O. in the address. And I thought he'd told me everything!!! We both got a laugh out of the riddle. Thanks. We have one Japanese Yew left in our front yard. It is the kind with the long, wide leaves and was here when we bought the house in May 1967 and the two yews were mature back then. When we added a double carport to our house, they took out the one on the right side of the house front, but I wouldn't let them take out the one on the left because there was no reason to do so. The house was built in the 1950s and the yews were probably the builders' choice of plants at the time because they are all over the subdivision. They just won't give up living and have the spirit of the fig tree, IMO. I'll have to let the yew know how much I value it when I'm outside tomorrow. Looks like my yew is an elder..... ;) noss

I like Sequoiadendron's advice about fixing root issues. If the root system is poorly formed (circling/future-girdling roots), you need to address the issue ASAP! Teasing apart (gently separating without creating needless excessive damage) the rootball is the way to go. Slicing into the rootball ("mak(ing) four evenly spaced slices down the sides of the root ball") is what landscapers, that are in a hurry and don't want to invest the time to do things optimally, would do (OK, yes, I admit to having done this plenty of times). Ironically (because you found it on the Magnolia Society's website), most magnolias, with their coarse rope-like roots, are plants you'd least want to treat in this manner. I disagree with some posters above that pruning ornamentals and pruning edible-fruit-producing trees requires a different set of skills. Yes, often the goals are different and certain pruning aspects rise to the forefront, but trees are trees. I frequently find ornamental that benefit from techniques most often associated with fruit tree pruning, and, the basics of fruit tree pruning are the same as those for ornamental. Some aspects of proper pruning lend themselves more to one type of tree or a certain situation, but it's not apples and......penguins. I like Rhizo's thoughts on when to prune. Relatively minor pruning at planting is not necessarily a bad thing. Dead or diseased branches, seriously damaged branches, rubbing branches, branches with unacceptably narrow crotch angles, and co-dominant leaders can be removed right away. These kinds of things are likely to cause more problems if left. But, as others have mentioned, excessive/unnecessary pruning shouldn't be part of the planting process. NEVER prune a healthy tree to "ballance" the root-to-shoot ratio (a nutty popular gardening myth). This link may give further useful info: Planting a Tree or Shrub

Lovely healthy looking growth, Esther, with terrific blooms! Whatever you're doing is working, so you get to build on that. You don't "have" to prune anything on your EDI, but with as much growth as you show losing a few of the inward growing canes won't hurt it. It's mostly an aesthetic decision for what you prefer. In my zone 5, I don't do any pruning beyond the necessary ruthless chopping back of dead foliage (which would be 80%+ of the roses you mention in my zone), so there's rarely a need for shaping pruning. The only reason you might prune back crossed branches in the babies is if they start to chafe at each other and cause friction damage that could let disease in. If you're lazy like me, you can put a little divider to keep the branches from rubbing, like strapping a little green styrofoam on with garden tape, then you get to keep all that lovely cane with no risk of problem. Once you've cut off dead and diseased parts, pruning is largely dependent on the style and priorities of the gardener. Heavy pruning can delay or limit bloom frequency and rebloom cycles, but it can encourage a more symmetric shape. As for fertilizing, there are as many methods as there are people logging in here to GW. Osmocote is fine once a year for roses once they're past their first year (don't use granular fertilizer on newly planted roses), but you may have to watch for salt and potassium buildup if you use it every year. Mostly roses need nitrogen if they're heavy feeders, so the cheap high nitrogen fertilizers can be good if you don't put on so much they put out leaves at the expense of flowers. I'm a minimalist and given the roses an handful or two each of alfalfa hay, 10-10-10 cheap fertilizer, and Ironite once in the spring, and water soluble fertilizers like fish emulsion if I get around to it later in the season (and I rarely do). In the long run, it's better to make sure the roses have good soil than a lot of fertilizer, but some of each can be fine. Cynthia

My fiddle leaf fig is too tall for our space. It grew a TON this past spring and when I got back from vacation last week, it has officially hitting the ceiling. It's growing out of every possible place it can, both larger trunks, the smaller one down below, even a tiny stem that's hasn't grown anything in 3 years. It breaks my heart a bit to trim back all these beautiful leaves but the branches are definitely too heavy. The branch on the right has been losing a lot of leaves as well, hence the big bald spot in leaves (Probably due to lack of water due to us being out of town a lot this summer). My question is can I cut it back now? In September? It grows year round really. And how far back should I cut it back? Any tips would be much appreciated!