Hi all,

I have a beautiful old Frangipani in the backyard - used to be my
Grandmother's house. As far as I know, it has never had a pruning - or at
least not since my Grandfather died some 14 years ago!

It's a very old, stately tree and in summer it provides wonderful privacy
and a place in the shade to sit under in our backyard! I have a
black-n-white pic (pre-1970) and in it the tree is a very small and wirey 7
feet tall, so I'm thinking it has to be at least 35 years old!

My question concerns pruning of the tree (now that it's leaves have dropped)
in anticipation of new Spring/Summer growth. Like I said, I don't think it's
been pruned for years, so should I go with my motto of "If it's not broke,
don't fix it!" OR should I give it a good prune?

The only reason I would want to prune it would be to create even more lush
growth, and hence privacy in Summer, or if the tree needs pruning for health
reasons. The outer branches are quite 'wirey' and most of the tree's
branches have a white mottled look to them - are these white spots a disease
of some sort? Should I be concerned at this and would pruning help if this
is the case?

Cheers and thanks in advance,
Mick

g'day mick,

like you say if it aint broke why fix it?

those spots are a type lychen of sorts won't do any harm to the tree
probably give it character.

if you want to promote new growth just cut off the spindly stuff but
not all the way back the main trunk.branch just enough so new growth
buds appear, also cut out any dyiing/dead or damaged branches.

len

snipped
--
happy gardening
'it works for me it could work for you,'

"in the end ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do" but consider others and the environment
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