Why I Oughta...

The last time that I checked in on the pair of Sugar Tyme crabapple trees - that are planted on the southside of our house - was in mid-March when they started to leaf-out on the tips of the branches .   I planted the pair of these trees in September of 2021 , so this was the third FULL growing season. They seemed to do fine in 2022 and 2023. They bloomed each Spring and had fruit in their first Fall , too. I last pruned these in February of this year - February 2024.  When they were dormant .  At that time, the tree on the right was showing some 'upwards' growth and was a bit more 'ahead' of the tree on the left.  But, I pruned them back to be horizontal cordons - four layers with a 'flat' top layer. This growing season, the trees kept-on-going.  But, the tree on the right shot WAY ahead of the one on the left.  Have a look at the trees - as they currently look - at the end of September - in the photo below: The tree on the right has A TON of top g...

I took this photo above a week or so ago - with the Greenspire Lindens being entirely green and not having lost a leaf yet this year.  Putting this here in the [garden diary] to note how much the trees hve grown and to document the progress of the Candelabra that I've made this year. I'll take another photo once the leaves fall off to get a sense for the structure, but below you can see the candelabra that is taking shape.  The red indicates the branch structure that exists so far and the yellow show the bamboo supports that are in place. Winter gives me a chance to look at this double candelabra espalier and decide if it is going to be five cordons or six cordons or limbs in the candelabra.  Here - below - in teal - is the six limb version.  It looks tight to me. On the left, this means that I need: a new 2nd from the bottom left limb. a longer bottom limb on the right.  a decision between three and four on both sides. a new fifth left limb ...