Train Weeping Pant Varieties For Good FormNo landscape is complete without at least one fantastic weeping specimen, and luckily there are weeping forms available in almost every woody plant group. The most popular weeping plants include weeping Japanese maples, weeping redbuds, weeping conifers, weeping cherries, and weeping willows. Weeping plants have long branches that hang down towards the ground rather than pointing up or growing out like normal and fill a very unique niche in landscape design.
Weeping Plants With Upright Growing LeadersPlants produce weeping branches in several styles which are very distinct from each other. Some varieties grow normal trunks that grow straight and tall with side branches that grow out and then hang down towards the ground. Some species of plants produce this form even when grown from seed, such as the Brewer's Weeping Spruce (pictured above) and some species of weeping willow. Varieties that have been bred for improved form have a more extreme stature with more interesting character, such as the Weeping Giant Sequoia. Because the main trunk, or leader, grows upright on its own these types of weeping plants generally need very little pruning to maintain an attractive specimen. However, for most gardeners the type of weeping plant without an upright leader fits much better into small landscape designs and works wonders when used as a central specimen plant.
Weeping Plants Without Upright Growing LeadersVarieties that don't have the ability to grow upwards on their own take a very different form than the first type. If you were to start with just a baby plant that was only a few inches tall and didn't do any staking or training you would end up with a plant growing horizontally on the ground like a vine without a tether. But when pruned correctly from the beginning the result is a small or medium sized shrub with a perfectly rounded top and curtain-like branches that hang perfectly straight from a single crown.
Example From Start To FinishWe photographed the steps to take a bushy 'Red Dragon' Contorted Filbert and turn it into a single stem tree about five feet tall. Next year we will repeat these same stems again to get the tree to about eight feet tall. This whole process takes five minutes or less per tree each year and the results are very worth the small amount of time.
For those of you who are interested, a 'Red Dragon' Contorted Filbert is basically a new and improved version of Harry Lauder's Walking Stick. Like Harry Lauder's Walking Stick, Red Dragon grows with stems that twist and turn like a pig's tail and branches that hang down rather than grow up. Although these trees will get taller on their own, the trunks hang down eventually forming a large bush when left untrained. These trees always look best when pruned to a single trunk at least six feet tall and left to weep with an umbrella style crown.
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