Question from Katie:
Can you please tell me the best time to prune my large sweetshade trees? (I live in coastal Long Beach.) Obviously I want to prune them to be able to enjoy a full bloom but avoid the fall and winter winds. Thanks for any advice you can give. I’m a big fan of your books!

Answer from Pat:
Sweetshade or Hawaiian Wedding Tree (Hymenosporum flavum), an evergreen tropical flowering tree native to Australia and New Guinea, prized for its abundant yellow, spring and early-summer blooms that can bowl you over with their fragrance. Hymenosporum has only two bad habits and they can be corrected:

They send out branches in three’s that are unevenly spaced up the trunk and then they grow most foliage onto branch tips. These problems can be overcome with frequent pinching or light cutting back of tips while the tree is young but you can continue this practice into maturity if necessary. If a branch gets overly long, just climb a 3-legged ladder, if you have one, and shorten it, (but don’t break your neck!)

Pruning of evergreen tropical trees is best done during the warm months of the year so that you don’t encourage growth in winter when you want the tree to harden off and withstand any cold snaps with equanimity. With most flowering evergreen tropicals you won’t go wrong by following the rule “Prune after bloom”, but pinching back to encourage bushiness can be done during any warm month from March through September, even when the tree is in bloom.

You are lucky to have mature specimens of hymenosporum. We used to see only small ones growing in Southern California, but in recent years we are seeing many older ones, some of which were planted in groves as apparently yours were. This can be good since the trees tend to support one another, but if they eventually become 60 feet tall, as in Australia, I think some of these groves will need thinning by taking out a trunk here or there. So far I haven’t seen any cases of this being necessary. Instead these older groves look like large screens and true ornaments to the Southern California landscape. I would deplore the loss of any of them.

Once Hymenosporum are full grown they are usually fairly trouble free but if they weren’t trained well in youth weak and breaking branches could be a problem. With your trees, look them over for weak branches and take those out or if that would leave unsightly gaps, leave them growing but cut them back to encourage branching. In most cases cutting back by several feet is sufficient to solve the problem. Don’t allow your tree pruners to “lace out” this tree. That would be exactly the opposite of what you want. All the pruning you should do is to force more growth to the center by cutting off some of the outside. Never clean out the inside of the tree, which would only make matters worse. In any case, don’t ever allow your tree pruners to remove more than 20% of the growth and foliage of a mature hymenosporum tree at one time.

I love this tree and am glad you have large ones. I’m also pleased you enjoy my books.

Related posts:

1. Pruning New Zealand Christmas tree close to a swimming pool
2. Pruning a Caphor tree
3. When to Prune a CAMPHOR TREE (Cinnamomum camphora)

Question from Suzanne:
How often should I prune it? how much can I cut it back?–probably 30 years old–probably at least 20 feet high. Neighbor has a swimming pool. I don’t want to take it out (it does grow to property line. Any suggestions?

Answer from Pat:
New Zealand Christmas tree (Metrosideros excelsa) is a virtuous tree and, if I were you, I would certainly not cut it down. Too bad the trunk is close to your property line and the neighbor’s swimming pool. You don’t mention the position of the swimming pool in respect to the tree or whether the tree shades the pool or if the problem is drippiness. I would not call this tree particularly messy except for the summer blossoms. If there is a problem with blossoms only, and if the swimming pool is south of the tree, wouldn’t a large umbrella or better yet, a Coolaroo Shade Sail or other brand, be positioned correctly to stop blossoms from falling into the pool? I have seen special structures built to protect pools or patios from falling tree blossoms and then the blossoms can be raked off or swept off with a long-handled tool especially designed for the purpose from time to time.

For correct pruning I would consult an arborist, but if that is too expensive then get the best company you can find locally to do the pruning and in any case, do NOT allow them to take off more than 20% of the foliage. The bark of New Zealand Christmas tree can be sunburned and over pruning can harm this tree severely, so don’t let it be over-pruned. If you opt for pruning, it’s okay to prune once a year. This is a tree that can be kept small and shrub-like if necessary, but once it is 30 years old and 20 feet high, it’s too late for that, but you could shorten the branches by tip pruning on the neighbor’s side.

If tip pruning of foliage (or hedging) does not do enough to stop the neighbor’s problem, then cutting the branches back in length is an option as long as you always cut back to a joint. After shortening a branch correctly, you should be able to walk away from it and no one should be able to tell it has been pruned because every branch that is left on the tree will still have a growing tip. There will now be a new tip with live foliage on the end. It will simply be shorter. (This type of pruning is the opposite of thinning a tree. When you thin out or “lace out” a tree, you cut out all the inside growth baring the branches. I don’t think this is what you want done here. Tell you pruners “No. We don’t want to lace out the tree. We want to drop- crotch it, and back-crotch the branches.”

“Drop-crotching” is an option on top for lowering the tree, and the same thing can be done with the sides of a tree. With drop-crotching, when the shape of the tree allows it, you cut the top off, down to the next joint. This is different from “topping” a tree. Do not allow “topping” (chopping the top off right through branches.) Topping harms trees. Drop crotching does not harm the tree, as long as you leave a new top to replace the old one you took off. What is harmful to a tree is cutting off branches by cutting straight through them leaving bare stubs with nothing to continue growing. (You often see this done to coral trees and eucalyptus and it is wrong.) This kind of pruning (when you don’t leave a growing tip on every branch) is extremely harmful to most trees.

Sometimes called “pollarding”, cutting straight through the top branches in fall is done on willow and sycamore in Europe. On sycamore and willow trees this causes a big knob to grow and then these knobs put out a proliferation of small whiplike branches in spring. The knobs grow bigger every year and sprout with new grow in spring that can be harvested every fall. Pollarding does not work for any trees other than willow and sycamore. Unfortunately untrained and uneducated pruners sometimes cut branches this way and that’s why it is so important to hire a good tree company with an arborist in charge or a foreman who knows what he is doing and won’t butcher your tree.

But with proper pruning by a good company you could cut back some this year which would produce bushiness further back, and then the following year you could cut back further. In this way you could prune it progressively and gradually, while lowering the tree and making it bushier without harming the tree. Also, a few offending branches could be removed altogether as long as you take them back to a joint and are not allowing the trunk or branches to be exposed to sunburn. Try to keep the tree somewhat balanced but without denuding it or leaving yourself totally exposed.

Related posts:

1. Pruning Sweetshade, Hawaiian Wedding Tree (Hymenosporum flavum)
2. Pruning a Caphor tree
3. When to Prune a CAMPHOR TREE (Cinnamomum camphora)

Question from John:
Where did you get the long pole you used in one of your videos to reach under your plants.  It was a long pole with a handle and a gripping part at the end.  I have MD and it would be a great help to me

Answer from Pat:
Many years ago I purchased a tool called a “long reach Japanese fruit picker” from a well known garden tool company that is now out of business. Today you can purchase several types of this tool and they are now called “Long Reach Pruners.” I suggest you Google “long reach pruner” and choose from the various types that come up. Through the years I have found this tool to be one of the most indispensable of all my garden tools. I use it for pruning climbing roses, for pruning wisteria in summer, or even for reaching into flower beds and deadheading flowers, or picking up dead blossoms as you saw me do in the video. The kind I use has a “grab and hold” feature.

The kind I used on the video is the old type, it’s light weight, and these days unfortunately more difficult to find. Here is a link to a more commonly found type which is a telescoping long-reach pruner. It reaches further, but it is also heavier. I even have one that reaches 12 feet and is very useful for clipping off the twiners from wisteria growing on a tall pergola, but I find it a bit heavy for me to use.

Related posts:

1. When to Prune a CAMPHOR TREE (Cinnamomum camphora)
2. Pollination of Avocado trees
3. Plant Clivia beneath Wisteria

Question from John:
Thank you Pat for all your wonderful help. I say again how much it is apprciated. Now I will spend another few hours surfing the internet to find out how to prune/trim all of the many remaining plants he planted and never retuned to show us how. to do

They are…besides already mentioned
1. Purple Leaf Plum tree…
2. Gardenia of which all 5 died
3. Rose: MrLincolon, Double Delight and Chicago Peace
4. Red Fountain Grass…now above the wall
5. Heliotrope
6. Westringer
7. Deiplodena red/pink
8. Diosnia
9. Greviloia somethying
10. Svia Indica, dark blue
11. Lambs Ear…we had to yank as it was taking over everything near
12. Status (?)
13. Leather Leaf Fern
14. Mondo Grass
15. Mother Fern
16. Creeping Blue Star or Sty Can’t d his writing
17. Baby Tears…
18. Ivy Gerraniums which we plan to yank as it too is taking over
19. Agapanthus I have no clue what he meant to write
20. Cordyline Palm, purple if its there I don’t see it

Fankly now that everything has grown in I think he has too many differnt plants

Again a huge thank you

Answer from Pat:
Your landscaper’s choice of plants is just fine. Minus the misspellings you have given me an excellent list of easy, colorful, disease-free plants that should be entirely trouble free. However, just reading between the lines of your emails I can tell you’re not having fun yet. I feel as if you’re not really enjoying this dream garden of yours. It is sounding a bit like a burden. My feeling has always been that folks who don’t like to garden shouldn’t do it. Instead, hire a better gardener or
tell the gardener you already have what to do. I am sure he would be only too delighted to do everything you tell him to do, especially the pruning. He just needs to be told.

Meanwhile, don’t look up pruning advice on the internet since you might accidentally come across some advice that is incorrect. Instead, purchase a pruning handbook as I’ve already suggested. Meanwhile, here are quick, easy pruning directions for the plants you mentioned. Every single one of these plants is easy to grow and should cause no problems. Only gardenias can be tricky if growing in the wrong spot. If you had begun with grafted ones they would have survived and if given full sun you would have been delighted with them, so go get some good ones and plant them in acid soil mix in full sun.

Here are the pruning directions:

• Purple leaf plum (Prunus cerasifera Nigra): Train when young as described before for young shade trees. Later only prune to remove dead branches.
• Gardenia: Little pruning needed other than removing faded flowers. Replace with grafted varieties from a good nursery such as Rogers Gardens in Newport.
• Roses: Follow the directions in the January chapter of my book and then follow further instructions given each month.
• Red Fountain grass (Pennisetum ‘Rubrum’), cut the whole thing to the ground in November after the first rain as described in the November chapter of my book,.
• Heliotrope, remove faded flowers, pinch tips to make bushy.
• Westringia rosmarinifolia: Prune in late spring or early summer (like now) by shearing all over once a year after bloom. (Blooms are insignificant.) If growing too large, shear more frequently to keep it compact. (Your gardener will love doing this!)
• Dipladenia: Pinch back in early spring to make it bushy if desired, even if there are flowers on the tips. Little pruning really needed.
• Diosma: Shear lightly all over after bloom to keep the plant compact. Don’t cut back hard.
  Grevillea (shrub) probably Grevillia noelliae: No pruning necessary, unless you need to control its size. Best pruned after flowering.
• Salvia ‘Indigo Spires”: Pinch back to keep compact. This plant can get rangy if not pinched back to control. Cut it back whenever it spreads too far.
• Statice, actually Sea lavender (Linaria perezii) Cut off dead blooms when they become unsightly.
• Leather leaf fern (Rhumohra adiantiformis). Remove any dead or unsightly leaves down to the ground. Otherwise no pruning. Easy and drought-resistant
• Mondo grass (Liriope): No pruning necessary.
• Mother fern: clip off any unsightly fronds.
• Blue star creeper: No pruning necessary except to clip edges if it strays.
• Baby tears. No pruning necessary. (Same as for blue star creeper.)
• Ivy geraniums: Don’t yank them out. Simply cut them back. Follow up with fertilizer and water. (Perhaps you are watering too much if things are growing this much.)
• Agapanthus. When blooms fade pull them out. (ie: Don’t clip off the faded flower stems, just yank them out.) Otherwise no pruning necessary.
• Cordyline australis ‘Purpurea’ or Cordyline baueri, which is very popular right now. This is not really a palm. It is a spikey looking plant on a trunk or eventually it will grow a trunk. You may think of it as a dracaena. You have a red one (kind of brownish, very pretty when the sun shines through it) : No pruning necessary except to pull off the faded leaves. (These are long and pointed.)

You do not have too many plants. Having too few plants would be boring. This is a good list of very easy plants.

Now I feel as if I have spent a lot of time trying to help you, and I feel you need to do something for me in return, so I have a request. Please send for a copy of my book “Pat Welsh’s Southern California Organic Gardening, Month-by-Month” (Chronicle Books, 2010) and start reading it every month. In this way you will repay me for my time and begin learning about all the plants you have and what to do for each. You might even get bitten by “the gardening bug.” Gardening is not rocket science, it’s just a matter of knowing what to do and either getting someone to do it or doing it yourself, if you enjoy it. (If you don’t like gardening, don’t do it!)

But gardening can be fun when you know how. I believe in organic gardening and encourage everyone to garden this way, but if you are not an organic gardener and don’t want to become one then please get yourself a copy of my earlier book: Pat Welsh’s Southern California Gardening: A Month-by-Month Guide, Completely Revised and Updated (Chronicle Books, 2000). You can find used copies on the internet. This one follows integrated pest control, but none of the plants you have are troubled with any pests. Purchasing my books and reading them and giving copies to your friends are the best ways to thank me because i wrote these books to help folks like you.

Related posts:

1. Pruning Sweetshade, Hawaiian Wedding Tree (Hymenosporum flavum)
2. Corrective Pruning Fruit Trees
3. Patio Plants That Can Hang Down Against Bare Ugly Walls

Question from Dave:
Hi Pat, the Beaumont macadamias are doing well – sending out new growth. I noticed that they each have 3 trunks coming up out of the ground. The Cates have one well defined trunk. Is this typical or should I get ready to do some pruning on the Beaumonts?  Ideally, I’d like the Beaumonts to be single trunk trees about 10 to 15 feet tall with a 10 to 15 foot diameter canopy. I’ve never seen an adult Beaumont so, I’m not sure what I should expect.Thanks in advance.

Answer from Pat:
You are so right about the paucity of information on pruning macadamias in the home garden. As a result, many home-grown macadamias grow unevenly and look more like a raggedy shrub than a tree. Some don’t bloom at all and thus bear no nuts probably because a sucker from below the graft was allowed to take over. The best home-grown macadamia I ever saw had a single trunk that was at least a foot thick and a rounded head of growth on top. It bore a bounteous crop of nuts every year. It was growing next to an irrigated horse pasture. It’s roots got the water from the pasture and the only fertilizer it ever got was horse manure.

Related posts:

1. Pruning New Zealand Christmas tree close to a swimming pool
2. Pruning a Caphor tree
3. Pruning Sweetshade, Hawaiian Wedding Tree (Hymenosporum flavum)

Question from Ralph:
Happy Memorial Day….a special “thank you” for any service from your loved ones. I served from 1966-1970 and can appreciate the sacrifices of our men and women in uniform servicing our great country.

Thank you again for your quick reply, I had read in two places this would not be a good idea based on the roots be resistant to disturbance? Anyway, my lady has great talent in floral arrangements – but without any idea as to growth patterns etc…..so we cross paths often…and I can’t win. Anyway, I suppose from past trimming of these….that I can trim them back down to an acceptable height and maintain the shape. I would hate to pull them out and destroy, so will just cut back….unless you tell me that too will kill them. All the best and thank you for your input.

Answer from Pat:
Thanks for the kind wishes on Memorial Day. My brother and my husband served in World War II; my uncle was in the RAF. All three lived to tell the tale, though my other uncle was killed in World War I.

You are correct in your assessment of why leptospermums don’t transplant easily. Their fine, wiry roots, typical of many drought-resistant plants, are good at stretching out in the soil and finding water, but cannot adapt to the shock of being dug up. The feeder roots break off during transplanting and the stronger ones close to the plant cannot make new feeder roots quickly enough for the plant to survive.

In regard to cutting back, yes if you chopped of three or four feet off the top, the plant will die. The best way is to prune selectively in winter by taking of armloads of flowers when the plants are in bloom. This should, I hope, please your wife who wants to use them in flower arrangements. By cutting back in winter this way you can make the cuts quite deeply into the shrubs, allowing long stems for cut flowers. You can even cut stems deeper into the shrub than needed for arrangements and then your wife can simply trim the stems to the correct length needed for vases. Don’t cut the shrubs all at once but continue cutting the flowers during bloom throughout winter and even into spring if the plant is still in bloom until all the blooms are gone and you have lowered the whole plant. By doing the pruning this way you solve several problems: You allow the plant time to regenerate between cuts and you avoid shearing the plant. Shearing leptospermums, though often done, is a deplorable way to prune them since it destroys their natural shape and makes them develop a lot of dead growth inside the bush. Most importantly by pruning in winter you avoid destroying the following year’s bloom. Of course, if you saw through a thick branch the wood cannot regenerate, but most L. scoparium shrubs stay pretty twiggy. ‘Ruby Glow’, however can become a twisted tree.

Since it is now May and since you didn’t do the above step in winter, it would be all right to follow the rule of “Prune After Bloom” and cut some height off now by shearing. Even though I like the pruning system recommended above, shearing would be the safer way now. By pruning immediately after bloom you would still get bloom next year. On old woody shrubs like this don’t cut too deeply all over or you would indeed risk killing the plants. Follow up with fertilizer and water.

Related posts:

1. When to prune climbing rose
2. Pruning Lavendar
3. When to Prune a CAMPHOR TREE (Cinnamomum camphora)

Question from Heather: I live near the coast. When is the best time to prune back lavendar? I did it a few months back, but not aggressively. Now they are even larger, too big in fact.

Answer from Pat: Prune lavendar as soon as the main blossom season has finished. Lavendar needs full sun. Otherwise it will grow towards the light and become uneven. Prune it after bloom by shearing the plant all over removing all the blooms and at least an inch or two of foliage. Don’t cut it back into bare wood, however. Only shear away of some of the gray green foliage and all of the blossoms. Some lavenders bloom mostly in spring, others in summer, some year round and others twice a year. The year round one’s are best sheared following spring bloom and again lightly in fall. Strive for a nice smooth rounded shape. By shearing lavender this way after bloom you can keep it more compact and help it to live longer. If growing in very poor soil, fertilize lightly after shearing with a balanced organic fertilizer and follow up with irrigation.

Related posts:

1. Pruning New Zealand Christmas tree close to a swimming pool
2. Pruning Sweetshade, Hawaiian Wedding Tree (Hymenosporum flavum)
3. Easy Pruning Directions for Many Common Plants

Regarding pruning, perhaps in a rainy climate a slanting cut allows rain to pour off. I do not know. Here in our dry Mediterranean climate, a straight cut provides less open space for disease to enter or wood to dry out. Cuts heal quicker when cut straight across. But many books still recommend the angled cut. Despite this, my opinion is the straight cut works better throughout the dry Southwest.

Related posts:

1. How to Prune Leptospermum
2. When to prune climbing rose