How would you maximize this Rhododendron material?

Design
1

Hi,

How would you approach designing this Rhodo? I liked its trunk, but I feel like the ramification of the branches is fairly high up.

Thank you in advance,

Gary

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2

I would cut it at this red line and rebuild ramification from there:

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1 Like
3

Thank you Mike. Would you repot and prune after flowering this season? Or repot this season, then prune in the late fall?

With prunning it back as hard as you suggest, do you worry that we might end up with very random new branches that are hard to work with? Also - if we repot and then prune hard, would the tree have the energy to rebuild, or would we want to do the hard pruning first in the nursery container and let the tree rebuild some folliage prior to repotting?

4

I would hard prune in the nursery can as long as it is draining freely., and let it recover there. Realistically its probably going to be in that can another 2-3 seasons. I would defer to Mike tho if he disagrees.

5

Is that an exbury azalea?