brugcrazy let me borrow her Monika book while she's away. It looks like Monika ties in some of her upper branches. If you train a greenwood branch in a certain direction, when it goes dormant over the winter and revives in the spring will it stay in that shape?
tying in branches
Fresh green branches must kept tied until they are woody.
Half woody (semi?) harden through winter and will stay that way, they were tied.
is this strictly for looks?
A crooky tree top can be corrected this way or to straighten the branches of Rothkirch for instance, because her branches have the tendency to hang down.
Another good tip from the master.
I have another question, when pruning, is there any way of knowing which way a new branch will shoot? Roses, you prune to an outside bud to direct the new growth. Is there anyway of doing this with brugs?
I tied some of the Gommer plants up. Many was cuttings from the floral areas and they grew to one side and paralel to the ground. L`Amour and Hofwil was such plants. They have a straight stem today. However, any new growth above the straightened stem continue the same growth pattern as the original cutting. It looked kind of funny, because when Hofwil became straight, the top shoot bended and grew paralel to the ground and formed the letter L bottoms up. *LOL*
Brugmansias grow different from roses. Only in the flowering region, it does happen, that ther might in a cross sprout. I cut those away.
Thanks Monika, now I'm off to find a big stick and some twine.