Re: Fwd: Pruning a Princess Tree

--- Nancy Swearengen <nswearengen@hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> >From: John Young <jfyoung@jps.net>
> >Reply-To: jfyoung@jps.net
> >To: nswearengen@hotmail.com
> >Subject: Pruning a Princess Tree
> >Date: Tue, 25 Dec 2001 16:42:09 -0800
> >
> >
> >Hello,
> >
> >We are in search of good information on the care,
> feeding and pruning of
> >
> >a Princess tree.  It seems to be in need and we do
> not know what and
> >when to prune.
> >
> >Can you point us in the proper direction?
> >
> >Thank you.
> >
> >John Young
 
Hi Nancy, How is everything up at the Berkeley Botanic
Garden?  

Seems that many people don't know quite what to do
with large Tibouchina urvilleana shrubs.  It is a very
forgiving plant, and when it gets too big or leggy,
can be pruned hard to old wood if required, and will
bloom again within 2 months if conditions suit it.  If
your area is subject to frost, it is probably best to
wait until it warms up, to be safe.  This probably
gets so leggy because it is grown in too much shade,
greatly affecting internode length.  It is more
usually a question of, does one sacrifice some current
bloom to make it tidier?  It is much more compact if
grown with full sun, and just wants good fertile soil,
regular garden watering, and some warmth to bloom, and
appreciates regular feeding to sustain year round
bloom.  They do extremely well all along the
California coast when protected from strong wind,
where they can be covered in bloom nearly year round,
loving the cool generally humid conditions.  

I find that some of the other Tibouchina species I've
tried are just not as floriferous in the same
conditions, but still enjoy T. heteromalla and T.
granulosa all the same.  It would be interesting to
get more seed strains of T. granulosa into the
California trade, as all of them seem to be the same
light purple, but can also be white, rose or pink in
Brazil.  I've tried and lost T. grandifolia and T.
mutabilis in other cold wet winters.  T. grandiflora
does seem to be more winter tender, don't know of any
large plants outdoors in northern California.  T.
mutabilis is like a giant Brunfelsia pauciflora, and
can have 3 colors of bloom at once.  This tree I 
fondly remember growing all around the forested
mountain hillsides of Sao Paulo, used as a street
tree, and along the coast of Rio de Janeiro, lighting
up the forest as a 30 to 40 foot tall tree. 

I'd love to trial T. lepidota 'Alstonville', which
looks absolutely gorgeous covered in massive bloom as
grown in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, and coming
from the Ecuadorean/Columbian Andes.  I understand
that this is also commonly grown in Cape Town, S.
Africa gardens, along with T. mutabilis.  I know a few
people are also trying these in Los Angeles, but they
aren't common here.  You'd think that winter blooming
trees with deep purple flowers would have already
caught on here!

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