Thank you, Jim & Anita. Barring any further info, I had planned to do it in the spring - your response very much eases my mind, because I'm talking about really drastic pruning back to the main branches. Your response (Anita) was also encouraging collecting for Bonsai. One of these is located where I eventually want to put some display benches, so will need to be relocated...into a nice over-sized pot ;-) Root base is about 8" - so any compacting & training of the tree over the next few years will be great. I will definitely keep your suggestion to leave a little extra length on the branches in case of die-back.

Thanks again,

Jeff Isom
Cleveland, OH / Sunset Zone 39


-----Original Message-----

Hi Jeff,

Wait til early spring, as when you'd dig them for bonsai. I've
collected a number of these from the "wild" (they're invasive exotics
planted by the birds in the woods!) for bonsai, and they bud back well
even when cut back to just a trunk. Sometimes they die back a few
inches at large cuts, so consider cutting them a little further out
than you want. Thin the resulting sprouts that summer, and let them
ramify for a few years. You'll have nice compact plants soon!

And, if you want to grab one for bonsai then or later, they are
incredibly easy to dig, having masses of fine roots, even right at the
base of 3-4 inch trunks.

Oh, and BTW to dear Jim, drastically pruning (not just trimming) a
deciduous shrub in Jeff's zone is definitely NOT something to do "just
about any time of year" unless you really like the sight of
summer-toasted or freeze-dried new growth...

Best,
Anita
Northern Harford County, Maryland, USDA zone 6
"I am not bound for any public place, but for ground of my own where I
have planted vines and orchard trees, and in the heat of the day
climbed up into the healing shadow of the woods. Better than any
argument is to rise at dawn and pick dew-wet red berries in a cup."
~Wendell Berry

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