If Michelangelo had pruning shears … - tips for pruning

In an old joke, Michelangelo is asked how he carves statues from marble. "Simple," he answers, "I just cut away everything that doesn't look like what I want." That's pretty much the way you make an espalier (a tree or shrub trained flat): prune away everything that doesn't grow in the plane you've selected.

You can try it this month with a camellia or quince. Both make classic spring-flowering espaliers. Do it from scratch, or pay extra for a started plant Many nurseries sell quinces and camellias already espaliered against small trellises. To avoid paying a premium for that head start, buy an untrained plant; choose one with three to five strong branches already growing in roughly the same plane. Plant by a wall, and tie branches loosely to small nails tapped into the wall at 1- to 2-foot intervals. Over time, you'll train the plant into a loose fan shape, pruning out branches that grow perpendicular to the wall's plane as you go. A word about plant selection For a quince, be sure to choose a flowering one. Fruiting kinds grow too large for most espaliers and have inferior flowers. Among camellias, C sasanqua varieties are abundant, early flowering, and usually easy to train. There are other choices, however, like the C 'Salutation' pictured above. It's a hybrid between a C reticulata variety and C saluenensis. As you select a location for your espalier, remember that camellias tolerate more shade than quinces do.