Schotia Brachypetala one year later

I first discussed this Schotia and its development from a five foot nursery tree in a post I wrote late last year, shortly after it had been subjected to a very dramatic pruning.

September 2015

By the time I wrote that post in November 2015, it was already showing good signs of recovery and I left it to grow unchecked for the rest of the summer.

Despite being a relatively slow-growing tree, it put out strong growth and a couple of weeks ago, with spring approaching, I decided it was time to get rid of the excess growth and try to work on better ramification.

August 2016 - before pruning

After pruning the structure of the tree is a bit more apparent.

August 2016 - after pruning

I'm still not totally happy with the direction that the top branches are growing as the apex seems to be sticking too far forward. (This problem can be clearly seen in the side view photo I included in my previous post.)

I won't decide what to do about it right now though, but will wait to see what new growth this year's pruning stimulates. Maybe once those branches ramify a bit more, the top won't look so bad.

Apologies for the ugly end of winter foliage. Now that spring has arrived I'm hoping that some fresh green leaves will soon appear.