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It’s been a funny start to spring with some trees leafing out early and with gusto while others are only just budding out. I put it down to a warm start and a later cold snap which has set a number of trees behind their bench mates.
The below Crabapple is new to my benches and was re-potted a month or so ago and falls firmly into the early leafing category
Since re-potting, It had continued to grow strongly and had leafed out to a point where the inner growth was already being shaded out and the inner buds looked sluggish.
So i brought it into the workshop and cut back extending shoots and also leaf pruned or partially defoliated the canopy.
Above: Before and after.
I have left the tree with two leaves per shoot, having also removed the small inner leaves at the base of shoots that tend not to form buds at their base. I find this goes a long way to increasing the sunlight that reaches the interior without really effecting the budding / ramification. I will see what happens from here but if the leaves keep growing in size and shade the interior too much i may cut them in half to further encourage light to the interior.
There was a lot of growth in the upper regions of the tree so by carrying out this first leave prune i hope that the energy of each branch is much more evenly balanced and has a more even access to light. We will have to see what happens with the second flush to test that thought.
It’s a strange season. Here in Australia we are in the middle of winter, yet in my garden some of my trees think its spring.
Trident Maple budding out.
For what ever reason, my trees seem to be ahead of schedule by a couple of months.
Chinese Elm.
My Chinese Quince dropped its leaves in autumn and almost straight away began to leaf out again and is now almost back in full leaf.
Chinese Quince leafing out.
I guess this means that at least for some trees I will have to move the re-potting window forward a little to keep up with their early movement. I think next year i will re-pot the Chinese Quince as soon as it drops it’s leaves in case it decides to move early again.
Are any other Australians seeing an early spring?
I wonder if these trees leafing out early will make for a big year of growth or if their lack of winter sleep will mean they are weaker than those trees that are taking the full winter sleep? It will be interesting to see what happens this season.
Another point of interest in my garden at this time of year is the ‘Choujubai’ flowering quince which although flowers throughout the year really blooms out in a big way now. It’s a nice splash of colour in amongst the bare deciduous trees. I had been hunting for ‘Choujubai’ in this country for a few years before finding one being grown by a friend. I am really enjoying it even though it is just a piece of stock at the moment. I hope to take a number of root cuttings this spring but perhaps that is the topic of a future post.
Choujubai colour.
Nichigo Bonsai 