Greenspire Lindens Horizontal Cordon Espalier - July 2021

It has been a while since I posted a full-frontal photo of our pair of Greenspire Little Leaf Linden trees that have been trained into a four-tier horizonatal cordon espalier in our backyard.  These are planted in Zone 5b and trained with wire alongside a six-foot-tall cedar fence.  You can see the top tier is a foot or more above the top of the fence and the root-flare of the trees is BELOW the bottom of the fence.   Thus, These are eight or nine feet tall.    The last time I showed this shot that you see below, was back in September of 2020 - close to 10 months ago. 

When I compare the photos, I see a few things:

1.  Tree on the left: The lowest tier has grown out a bit - mostly the right side.

2.  The trunks have thickened up.  I'll have to grab some caliper measurements soon to confirm.

3.  The two little 'scaredy cat' pieces I left on last year are still there on the tree on the left.  Should prune them off soon.

4.  Tree on the right:  the bottom tier has grown out.  So, too, has the second from bottom tier.  

These trees were bought in Spring of 2017 and planted in Summer of 2017.  That means, this is the ('17, '18, '19, '20 and now '21) fifth growing season.   And they're close to being in their final form.  With the continued pruning of the top-growth and the apical meristem, I'm hoping to see the bottom two tiers thicken up as much as the top two have.  Once that's done, I'll be able to take down the training wire and post system and move on to another espalier installation.