Type the following link in to your browser.cestanislaus.ucdavis. This gives interesting information on pruning in spring before growth starts so that the tree re establishes its shape before going in to next winter. I have one that looks like yours. The wind has blown a branch out to almost right angles. I was wondering what to about it but now I will confidently cut it out and trim the tree to shape.

I recommend that you don't use hedge shears, but prune selectively, instead. Cutting through all those tiny little twigs will leave thousands of brown tips, and result in hundreds of little "brooms" sticking out everywhere!

thanks both of you, will check out your link Scotsgran

I agree with Tuqbrethil. I use secaturs on mine. Yours seems to be quite loose at the top and you could use your shears to give it a good haircut before trimming it to the finished article.

http://cestanislaus.ucdavis.edu/files/192.htm Sorry for not copying the full address. Hope this helps everybody.