How to prune a bottle brush tree?
Hey Lily, Pruning the BBT will help it to bloom next year. You should wait until the cooler weahter in the fall, but then here are some tips: Stand back and get a feel for how you want it to shape up. Look from several angles. You can trim it back 1/3 of it’s total branches if you need to. Start by removing anything dead (cut using CLEAN pruners, or pruning saw) just outside the collar of a branch – this is a Thinning cut. The collar will seal over and protect the BBT from disease in the future. No paint or tree sealants – they only trap moisture. Remove crossing branches, rubbing branches, and then stand back again. Your BBT should be thinner, now you want to shorten the tips. This is Tip pruning, or tipping. Done properly, it is hardley noticeable. Take a branch that you want to shorten (like one hanging on the ground), and follow the branch back to a node (place where more than one branch connects). You can cut that branch up close to the node, or you can go back another node if nee
