I thought Southies might like this particularly...
Last Spring, I planted out three Magnolia Little Gems* that had been languishing in their pots since before the previous Christmas. They'd also been through the horrendous heatwave we had in summer 08/09 and had lost a lot of leaves. They were pretty much just skinny little sticks with a few green leaves and lots of brown bits. They actually looked a bit tragic.
After I got them in the ground and had given them a few doses of Seasol and Powerfeed, they started to look a bit happier. THEN we had the horrible hailstorm in November and half the leaves on the poor things were shredded.
I want these to form a nice bushy border between our front yard and the neighbours', so I don't have to look at their gas and electricity meters etc (not to mention the collection of small concrete animals scattered around the yard ). So I took to them with the secateurs, just chopped them all over.
Here they are on the 15th December:
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And today, three months later:
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I know some plants are a bit precious about how they're pruned, and doing fancy stuff with topiary is a whole other story, but I've always found that if you just want a nice full shape all over, most shrubs and trees aren't that fussy about exactly where you cut them.
So, what are you afraid of...?
*Yes, there are four trees in the photos, not three. The fourth was provided as part of our landscaping deal and was always a healthier-looking plant from the word go. But I'd say the others have just about caught up now.