By Ladyessex1
Leigh-on-Sea Essex, United Kingdom
Hi Friends. I have a Sun King small tree that has got too big as it is hanging over the grass area, would it hurt to cut right back or would that kill it?
xx Jackie xx
- 24 Jan, 2017
Answers
That's the info I have too.. perhaps the GC you bought from implied it grows less than it does?
24 Jan, 2017
Sorry I cannot advise you but take a look at the RHS advice which seems to suggest that you can cut out unwanted growth. I am surprised at the different claims on different websites about the height etc you can expect. Apparently it is a native plant in New Zealand where it grows to 26 feet (8m).
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=549
24 Jan, 2017
I looked it up too and found it can be trained against a wall so wouldn't have thought that carefully removing overhanging branches would harm it. That site suggested it would grow to two to two and a half metres! Perhaps the height in Britain is rather less than in its native country.
24 Jan, 2017
Thank You All, I will go on RHS Site & ask for their advice x
Think I will give up taking pics to put on here with my iPhone LOL
25 Jan, 2017
I found if I saved the photos to a folder in Pictures and edited them so they are the right way up I could load them here with no problems. It is a bit of a faff though.
The secret of any pruning is to be careful not to shock it to death by taking away more than one third of the shrub in any one year. I copied your photo on to a Powerpoint slide so I could look at the right way up. It does not look as if you need to do drastic surgery to take away enough to stop it overhanging the grass. Your border does seem to be full of shrubs which will grow too big for the width of the border. Would you consider taking away some of the grass, perhaps make a wider border with a curve to accommodate the plants.
I did not save the ppt file.
26 Jan, 2017
I found that if you right click in a photo and choose View Image you get a pic the right way up. Easier than copying it into Powerpoint.
26 Jan, 2017
I tried that but my drop down menu (when I right click) does not give me that option.
26 Jan, 2017
Just pull the image to your desktop and open it will then be right way up
26 Jan, 2017
Scotsgran I use Linux so perhaps that's why its a bit different.Just discovered Moongrower's solution works for me as well - thanks MG!
26 Jan, 2017
Thank you from me too Mg that works fine.
27 Jan, 2017
You are both welcome...
27 Jan, 2017
Hi, I presume you're asking about Sophora microphilla 'sun king', unfortunately this is pruning group 1, which means very little pruning, just taking out any dead, diseased, or crossing branches, so I wouldn't like to say howit would fare given a hard prune, I've never grown this, so perhaps someone with experience of it would be able to advise, sorry Derek.
24 Jan, 2017