I found a huge very tall Berberis Thunbergii ‘Crimson Pygmy’ bush at City Floral in Denver, Co. one year. I estimated it to be 10-12 feet tall. I bought the tree and the staff took it out to the pick up area. I just happened to have my Bonsai tools in the car. I sawed the top of the bush off right in the pickup area. The City Floral employee could not believe what I was doing. There was no way the tree would fit in the car being 12 feet tall. It is growing in a 20 gallon pot to and very heavy. We got the tree into my 4Runner buy pulling the pot in backwards and dragging it up to the back of the front seats. Home she went. Next problem how to get it out with out looking like a pin cushion. I somehow got her out and took her into the garage and spent hours cleaning out all the dead stuff etc. The top of the tree looked horrible and was completely flat now. I was fresh out of ideas and decided to do what I do best which is nothing. I let the tree grow for several years anyway or anywhere it wanted to. I did cut off suckers though. Last winter the tree was so tall and bushy I had to use a rope and pull all the branches together to keep it form taking up so much room in the garage. She went outside in the spring with rope still attached to it. It is now June and I have set the tree free finally. I took the tree into the garage and decided the time was perfect to do something? The rope came off and I was sitting there looking at her and it hit me just to do clip and grow on this tree. A 5-6 foot tall clip and grow barberry. It does have a pretty nice sized trunk on it with mature bark on it. It also has what you might call a second trunk on it which I left alone. One side of the tree could use some more branches and filling in with foliage. That side was now turned to face the sun more. I spent several hours clipping the tree back all up and down the trunk including the apex. I made a big mess on the floor and the barberry branches were sticking to my shoes. I finally decided the tree had suffered enough and stopped. The next day I moved her back outside into her favorite spot with morning and midday sun with afternoon shade rest of the day. Future plans include trying to fill in with foliage/branches on one side that needs it. The tree will be allowed to continue to grow new shoots and extend them. The new shoots will then be trimmed back to a pair of leaves to keep the tree from getting bigger. This technique works extremely well on small Barberry Bonsai trees.
I mentioned to a fellow club member I had a 6 foot tall Barberry and the club member said I was lying. I just laughed and told him it was true. So here are some photos before and after. The tree is sitting on the floor of the garage and actually has a turn table under it! That is a 2 liter bottle of soda pop for size comparison. So here is the proof!
City Floral actually had two of these this size. This was the nicest of the two. I decided to go get the other one for a clump design, but alas it was gone!
Gallery 06-07-2021:
After
Before
