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Tsuga canadensis, 'Pendula'

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

About 25 years ago I received a weeping hemlock from a customer for moving her yard to her new home about a hundred miles away to her new house and landscaping the one she left. It was sort of a tip for a nice job. :-) She called the tree a Sargent's Weeping Hemlock. It had been in the ground about 12 years she said when I got it.

I grew it for a number of years letting the branches hang down in a typical weeping form. Eventually it started to encroach on a path. I cut the branches off on that side so I could walk by it after moving the path once to give it more room. That's not the first time I've underestimated the growth rate and eventual size of a tree.

This year I cut most of the branches off up high to see what it would look like, knowing I could always let them grow back if I didn't like it.

While cutting the branches off, I decided to walk around back and take a look at how it was going. That's when I and decided to stop. This is what it looks like from the other side.

Doesn't look like the same tree, does it? It just needs a little more tweaking to enhance the look.

Creative pruning is fun. It gets rid of the blobs. I don't see much of it on this Forum. Almost everybody is trying to grow the perfect trophy specimen.

What do you think? Is this a fail?

Should there be more creative pruning?

mike..near Seattle

Featured Answer

Mike McGarvey
Original Author

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

So do I.

This isn't some shapeless blob like most weeping Japanese Maples you see.

This one shows some 'leg'.

Mike

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