Hi all,
I've got a gardenia plant that is about 1.5 feet tall and maybe 3 feet wide. I would like it to grow up to about 3.5 feet tall, no more than 4 feet wide, and with the bottom exposed (so that on the bottom 1 foot, you only see 1 thick stem, and then a few thicken branches, no leaves, no branches), so that you can see the soil. More like a tree, less like a hedge.
Questions:
1. I think that would be fairly aesthetic. Does that sound ridiculous in gardening, to want you plant to have exposed bottom stem?
2. To achieve this goal, do I wait till winter (when there are less leaves and flowers) to prune, or do I start now? I would imagine, I just cut off the branches that are too low, and go from there. And periodically, cut off the branches that are growing inward, so that the inside of the plant isn't too crowded.
If anyone knows of a better place to post this kind of pruning question, please let me know.
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unlikely_gardener
- Newly Registered
- Posts: 9
- Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2010 3:18 pm
What you describe is a type of topiary that is sometimes referred to as a "tree form", or a "standard". Also, gardenias are sometimes pruned to display the trunk when they are used for bonsai.
I recommend that you check your nearest library for some books about topiary. Look for books that have step-by-step pictures, as well as written instructions. That way, you can have the book at hand to refer to as you work.
The time to prune your gardenia is immediately after it finishes flowering. They set buds in the fall, so if you prune it too late, you won't have any flowers the following year. You don't want to remove more than 1/3 of the living tissue in one year, so you may have to plan your project to extend over more than one growing season.
Depending on the cultivar of gardenia you're working with, it may be a lot of work to keep it as small as you want yours to be when it's finished. Here's a picture I found of a gardenia pruned as a tree. It's over 8' tall, and the trunk is 12" in diameter. You might want to consider starting with a dwarf gardenia, or at least one of the smaller cultivars, because they mature at just about the size you indicated you wanted, I.e. 3 to 5 feet tall and 3 to 4 feet in width. Just a suggestion. If you plan to grow yours in a container, however, that may have a dwarfing effect on the plant, as well.
[img]https://www.different-kinds-of-plants.com/images/gardenia-tree-full-of-flowers-21120480.jpg[/img]
I recommend that you check your nearest library for some books about topiary. Look for books that have step-by-step pictures, as well as written instructions. That way, you can have the book at hand to refer to as you work.
The time to prune your gardenia is immediately after it finishes flowering. They set buds in the fall, so if you prune it too late, you won't have any flowers the following year. You don't want to remove more than 1/3 of the living tissue in one year, so you may have to plan your project to extend over more than one growing season.
Depending on the cultivar of gardenia you're working with, it may be a lot of work to keep it as small as you want yours to be when it's finished. Here's a picture I found of a gardenia pruned as a tree. It's over 8' tall, and the trunk is 12" in diameter. You might want to consider starting with a dwarf gardenia, or at least one of the smaller cultivars, because they mature at just about the size you indicated you wanted, I.e. 3 to 5 feet tall and 3 to 4 feet in width. Just a suggestion. If you plan to grow yours in a container, however, that may have a dwarfing effect on the plant, as well.
[img]https://www.different-kinds-of-plants.com/images/gardenia-tree-full-of-flowers-21120480.jpg[/img]