Al: Oh, I do indeed have more trees! I am a bit overwhelmed by the number of pots both in and outside of my home. I am an incurable collector. I could ask you questions about them all day. . . Back in March, you answered several of my questions about making the gritty mix when I was just embarking upon that adventure. I put a few plants that were on death's doorstep in the mix then. A few didn't make it (a draceana among them), a few are thriving (the aloe and spider plant love the mix!), most have held steady and are starting to show signs of growth (shefflera, swiss cheese philodendron). So I do have a sense of the patience required when repotting before the optimal time. I'm looking forward to seeing the results of undertaking things at the right time. It's been nice to practice with the mix, learn about it's water retention, and begin to tweak it for my needs before I moved my most-beloveds into it. This week I chopped an enormous floppy jade back to it's thick base and put it in the mix. Looking forward to that development. Also a favorite cactus whose name I don't know; it's about four feet tall, main stalk about 3-4" diameter with five stalks coming off the main, so maneuvering it was an exciting project. I was nervous about that one, but glad I did it when I got in there and saw how cemented the roots were in the hardest soil I've ever dealt with. I have a ficus lyrata (fiddle fig) that also reaches the ceiling, so I'm using your advice to give it a new shape. I'm planning on following roughly the same timing for it as for the elastica. I have a very big Bloodgood maple in a pot that's too big to move. I'd love to get that back to a manageable size, but it has just leafed out beautifully and I'm thinking that it is not the right time for that. Your comments are welcome. My other big question involves conifers. I have a very sick Wilma Goldcrest Cypress, and some kind of arborvitae (I think). I've noted that you don't recommend bare-rooting these, but cutting wedges. Is that correct? What about timing? Okay, I've rambled enough. As you can probably tell now, I'm addicted (like many folks I've read on this site). Thanks again for your help. I'm really enjoying learning about the plants, seeing their roots, and giving them conditions to thrive. blessings, brenda

Got your message - figured I'd reply here. When a ficus other than one of the vining species gets to the point it can't hold its head up, it's telling you it wants more light. The options are to give it more light, support it mechanically with a stake or some other rigging (yuk), or shorten the plant which effectively stiffens the stem. It doesn't really stiffen the stem, but reducing the ht reduces the amount of deflection and makes it almost like the stem is stiffer. The best choice of the three is to shorten the plant, but that is at odds for your desire for a taller plant .... which means you need to decide how you want to move forward. The stem thickens in a direct relation to how much photosynthesizing surface there plant has and how much light hits that surface. To realize your goals, it's distinctly to your advantage to maximize the number of leaves and give the plant as much light as possible. Low light does cause loss of low leaves and leaves furthest from the growing tips of branches - so does root congestion. If you want a recipe for robust growth, it's this: Use a very large pot and a very fast (draining) soil, like the gritty mix - one you can't over-water unless you work hard at it. Give the plant all the light and air movement it will take (bright light and air movement stimulate back-budding and activation of latent buds), and feed heavily - a full strength dose of a good fertilizer (like MG 12-4-8 or Foliage-Pro 9-3-6 [my favorite]) weekly during strong growth periods. To maximize ramification (leaf and branch density), regularly cutting all branches with 4 or more leaves back to 2 leaves will force the highest number of leaves and branches into the least amount of space. As the plant grows, you can select branches growing toward the vertical as the leader, pruning competing secondary leaders so they don't confuse the eye by making the tree appear to have 2 heads. You can notch above a leaf or tip prune to force back-budding, or start pruning everything but the main leader (unless it's flopping over) back to 2 leaves. Everything is easier if you can keep your plants in good health. Good plant health starts with good root health. As long as you have to fight your soil for control of root health, progress will move ahead much more slowly than if the root system was enjoying good health. If you have both the soil AND insufficient light w2orking to limit your efforts, progress can still be made, but it will be much, much slower than if conditions were ideal. Al

Hi All, Thanks for the follow-up. Yes adenium1949, I believe you are correct in that by pruning the plant, I should more specifically be seeking advice on the shaping of it since that is actually what I am doing :D - any advice? I will try to post other photos from different angles soon... Karyn1 I agree... I believe it was a cutting and my preference is to continue to have it leaning for the sake of interest - it was repotted about a year ago, so I think it's probably too soon to repot? At least if that's only for the sake of positioning it... The consensus seems to be leave it until it's done seeding and then trim, so I'll follow that route, however is there a rule of thumb when it comes to shaping these plants or is it all generally a matter of preference? Thanks again for the feedback!

How wide depends on your soil. If it is not hard clay then a foot or so would be fine. I have clay and I dig wider and deeper to break it up. Cup or two manure would be fine. Pinching/pruning new Clematis encourages more vines up from the crown and root development. Otherwise you can end up with one or two long scraggly vines and few flowers. Clematis are not instant gratification plants. They normally take several years to get going.