Sculpting older conifers

[123Deb321]

Hi, we have 3 small conifers in our garden, that were put in by the previous owners. I don't know what type they are but they look to be the cheapest of cheap type, and stand about 3ft tall, and I am guessing they are slow growing, or maybe have reached maximum height (we only moved into the house 6mnths ago, so I'm guessing).

The conifers don't fit in with my plans for the garden (as the previous owners had neglected it), and so they may end up on the compost heap, but is it possible to sculpt them? I was thinking of the types you see in Japanese gardens, where the trunk is exposed with greenery on the top? Any ideas? Can I do this with older conifers, or does it NEED to be sculpted from baby plants.

[Scarlet]

I'm not really sure what you want to do, some photos would probably make it easier to imagine. Photos of how they look now, what you want to achieve and a close up to determine what type of conifer it is. ID'ing the conifers would help other grapes answer your question. Although I'm sure that if you cut into old wood you won't get regrowth from that area.

[Guest]

You can to a degree. It is more you reveal the trunk and branches rather than sculpt like you would with box or yew. Also it is working with the type of conifer you have rather than trying to force it to be something it is unlikely to be i.e column types can be tiered, lollipops or spirals however they are not forgiving if you make a mistake. You can shape in some cases by wiring but you would be best looking at bonsai techniques. I don't know if there are any bonsai grapes that could help if you wanted to go down that route.
If you post some piccies peeps will soon give some ideas what could be done.

[Kristen]

There were some nice ones on ITV : Titchmarsh's Britain's Best Back Gardens the other day (13 Jan, Episode 2) - a Japanese garden near Kettering from memory. He had exposed the trunks by cutting off all low branches, and then trimmed the tops so they formed a shape - dome etc.

You can't cut conifers like Leylandii back into old wood, so anything you want to regrow needs to only be cut back as far as there are green leaves, so apart from trimming any branches that have lots of green "back a bit" you would need to let the top "grow out" to meet your eventual Dome/etc. shape.

(You might find that trimming back a branch to one remaining piece of green then causes the branch to grow a new green bit further up the stem, in which case you can then cut back to that. That will take a few seasons though, and the only conifer I know that does that is Thuja (Yew is fine too, you can murder that and it will grow back).

[Kristen]

https://www.itv.com/itvplayer/britai...es-1/episode-2

You have to register to view (Why? ) otherwise I would have scanned it to find the start time for you.

Someone else who does wacky things with old conifers is Pearl Fryar - untrained and unconventional!

pearlfryar.com

for example:

[muddled]

If they're in danger of the compost bin anyway, why not just crack on and give it a go?

When we moved here I hated the straggly privet hedge out the front. I was thinking of getting rid entirely but before I did, I had a little 'practice go' at topiary....just for fun
I can't find a good picture of it at the minute....gawd I hate windows8....but here he is in the snow,



Go on, hack at the trees....you know you want to!

[Scarlet]

I would love to have a go at doing something that size and I know "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" but that is bl@@dy horrible. I just can't work it out.

[Kristen]

I agree, not my taste either - looks like the backbone left on my plate after I've eaten a fish! - but I do find it impressive what he has done with the naff plants he started with

The ones on Titchmarsh's Britains Best Gardens were better (well, "more conventional"). It wasn't Kettering as I thought, its Nottinghamshire:

Japanese Garden - Pure Land Meditation Centre and Japanese Garden
Pureland, North Clifton, Nr. Newark, Nottinghamshire, NG23 7AT

I've managed to find one picture of a Dome Conifer where the lower branches have been stripped right back, and the rest trimmed into a "dome" shape, probably over a few years.


Pureland Japanese Garden - Picture of Pure Land Meditation Centre and Japanese Garden, Newark-on-Trent - TripAdvisor
This photo of Pure Land Meditation Centre and Japanese Garden is courtesy of TripAdvisor