Chitalpa 'Pink Dawn'

We purchased a Chitalpa 'Pink Dawn' several months ago and it has done very well so far. It is now twice its original height. We live i...Read Moren Massachusetts on Outer Cape Cod and have had pretty good luck with almost everything we plant. The Chitalpa is planted in an eastern exposure, plenty of sun, and we water every day. Since they grow to a height of 25-30', can we keep it pruned to a lower height so that it won't overtake our garden area. It's about 4' high now and had lovely pink orchid-like flowers when it bloomed earlier this summer. We really like this lovely tree and would like to keep it 'contained.' Thank you for any advice.

Chose to plant a 'Pink Dawn' Chitalpa in lieu of a Desert Willow due to its superior cold hardiness. In the second, third and fourth yea...Read Morers, the plant proved to be only root hardy. I thought the gravel mulched bed may have been contributing to it dying back to the ground each year, but this year it rebounded and is looking like it might actually become a tree. Not sure why it rebounded as last winter actually was colder than the previous winter. I really want my Chitalpa to become a tree as its flowers are spectacular (July to first frost).

This plant v. 'Pink Dawn' is on recommended plant list of Indian Wells Valley Water District Ridgecrest California which is considered Hi...Read Moregh Desert Area Zone 8a-9a.

I see many of these growing in the El Paso area, they have blooms from early spring till our "winter" months. They like sand and do not r...Read Moreequire much watering which is evident by them spreading into the desert.

I actually dug two up from the desert and planted them into my yard. They grow fast as well. I noticed that the ones in the desert have a much darker purple color flower and a rough bark compared to those which live in people's yard or city landscape where they receive regular water. In fact the ones I got fom the desert have lighter flowers now in their new home and a smoother bark than their rough gnarly barked relatives still in the desert.

They have a tap root system that goes quite deep. Even the very small specimen I got was a struggle to remove despite the powdery desert sand I live in.

Today I purchased a large multitrunk Chipalta from Lowes. According to a local nursery owner you can control the type of canopy these trees have. If you let them grow on their own without any prunign they will have a specked shade because the braches and stems spread out so much. If you prune them you will get a much denser canopy sinc ethe branches and stems will grow much thicker.

I could get into the biology of why this happens when you cut the apex of a limb off and how plant hormones work, but I already wrote a lot. :)