The basic steps of branch development on coast live oak are simple: stimulate new shoots, shape the shoots with wire, cut back to two or three buds in fall. Following these steps can yield secondary branches in less than one year. Here are photos of each step. February 2019 The coast live oak above is […]
Coast Live Oak
Coast live oak – initial styling
Back in March I posted photos of several coast live oaks after cutting off all major branches (see “Reducing branches on coast live oak – follow-up“). The trees have grown vigorously since then. So much so, they were ready for their first styling last month. The goal was to select primary branches and begin setting […]
Rehabilitating a Coast live oak
Two years ago a coast live oak I’d been fond of for many years came into my collection. Coast live oak – January 2017 I’d enjoyed watching the tree develop over the years and was looking forward to working on it. Before getting started, however, I repotted the tree to get a look at the […]
Reducing branches on coast live oak – follow-up
It didn’t take long for new buds to appear after dramatically pruning some coast live oaks last month (see Oaks for details). Here’s a photo of new bud development ten days after cutback. Signs of new growth on Coast live oak – 8″ Close up of new buds When new buds appear in places where […]
Reducing primary branches on coast live oak
Last spring I brought home a few coast live oaks. I repotted them in early May and found that they responded well to the work (see “Repotting out of season“). Here’s what one of the trees looked like last week. Coast live oak I did, however, notice that most of the new growth was on […]