Randy I have very similar tree, even lopsided like yours. The tree was getting too tall to keep inside, but luckily was not infested. I was looking for info how to prune it & that is how I found this forum. I have followed Al's recommendations to a letter (and I have never even read about root pruning/proper repotting): 1. 'inspection' of roots/flushing thoroughly/proper watering & fertilizing - all few months ahead of proper repotting; 2. then at proper time (July), root pruning (the root ball was a mess)-repotting into brand new soil mix (5-1-1); 3. continue proper watering/fertilizing as recommended 4. pruning branches approx. month later I am very satisfied with results, the tree looks much better and has lots of new leaves growing. An it is few inches shorter (more pruning next year). It took some effort, but if you really want your plant to grow well, it is worth it. I am following similar routine with all my potted plants - it will take some time since I have 'few', but by same time next year all of them will be in new soil mix, root pruned/repotted/branches pruned and I am sure growing much healtier. The info you'll find on this forum is very helpful. Al has many extremely informative threads, and I have save them for reference. Much easier for me to get infor-he does all the hard work of writing it all... Many other members have very good posts and photos too - sorry I can't think of all the names right now. Good luck with your tree. Rina

Thanks for all your comments. Regarding sun exposure - the other currants which get more direct sun are exhibiting the same behavior plus the currant(s)in the photo were growing great before they were pruned. So I don't think sun exposure is the main issue though it could be a factor. It looks like I pruned too much too soon. It seems like my choices are to fertilize (or not) and wait and see what they do next Spring OR just start over from scratch with new currants. Live and learn. However, it seems like there is more to the plants I have in the ground now than the bare-root plants I would get the from the nursery - the question is how much foliage I will get in the spring with the existing plants. Anyway, do you all think I should get new plants or just wait and see?

The reputation is widespread Judith. I can't think of another person that has posted experiences with Brandy that are like ours. That is the reason I wonder :) A friend liked our Brandy so much she got one too. Her Brandy is almost as nice as ours. Brandy at InternetMontana is a link to our old site. I haven't updated it in 4 years. All the pics were taken with our little 1.3 mp Olympus 360. You can see Brandy just keeps doing nicely in spite of the cold winters and hard pruning. Sterling Silver is another rose that isn't supposed to take hard pruning well. SS is more tender than Brandy is. We are lucky if there is over 6 inches of live cane in spring. The rascal gives us a nice bush every year. I'm not saying the stories about them are myths. I'm sure folks that report it are being accurate. I'm just pointing out that ours do fine in spite of hard pruning. I do admit that I sometimes wonder if Brandy does so well here because she gets pruned so hard???

Lisa - your comment made me laugh! Yes, all that "seeing him nude" and "stripping him naked" did sound very naughty - hahaha! No, our winters are too mild really (we're still getting up to 20 C (68F) in the daytime sometimes and it only goes down to around 8 - 10 C (46 - 50F) at night so to be honest, none of the roses were going dormant. They were still setting buds. But with Spring coming in Sep just around the corner, we sort of have to force them into dormancy ;-) A few of the roses do drop some leaves - but mostly, you have to strip them all off by hand. (You can see from the 2nd photo above - that's what Pierre looked like last week, still completely covered - so all of that had to be removed yesterday! The training was actually a happy accident due to my newbie anxiety - haha! I didn't realise that climbers have canes that remain lax and can be tied up later - the rose people here in Perth told me they just let the new shoots grow wild and then tie them all in properly after pruning, when they can see better. But I thought if I didn't train them as they grew, they would "solidify" into the wrong shape! So I was there wrestling with Pierre all through the growing season, tying & retying him to the fence as he grew. I have a LOT of thorn pricks & scratches to show for it - haha! But it did mean that when it came to pruning yesterday, the guy who was helping me said that I'd done a good enough job with the training so we didn't need to re-tie any of the canes at all. :-) Funnily enough, I've discovered that I really enjoy training things (probably a masochistic tendency - hah!) and I'm now looking for more climbers to grow in my garden! Sadly, not roses as I'm out of sunny walls - but I'm looking at clematis and any other climbers I can find. Oh, and I've just planted lots of sweet pea seedlings. It's my first time growing them - I've never seen them in "real life" - so I'm excited! HY