I don't know about Golf Ball but I have the same thing with Nandina 'Plum Passion.' Wanted 4-footers, have 7- to 8- footers!

Yeah, I've experienced this issue with dwarf shrubs and with this excellent cultivar in particular. Sunset and other good publishers are often mistaken when they list what the grower or the patent-holder reports. But we love our new and fashionable plants, don't we? Golf Ball is at least easier to prune than its cousin, Pittoporum crassifolium 'Compactum'. I've not seen Golf Ball get quite 5' x 6', however, so thanks for the report!

I think Monrovia's size estimates are really for "at X number of years". I know their Metrosideros excelsa 'Gala' says 10 feet, but I've seen one that was 40!.

Thanks- I'm glad I'm not the only one. Yes Scott, we have to buy it when it's new and $50 for a five gallon!

I just gave it a pruning and I'm going to try to transplant it to my backyard in October. I'm thinking it is not going to work, but I'll try; it's a great shrub.

We planted 3 Golf Ball Pittosporums in Spring of 2006, 1 gal. size. I also assumed that they would only require a little shaping, perhaps once a year. Not true.

I have to prune them twice a year to keep them about 2' wide and 18" tall. The good thing is that they respond very well to the shearings and leaf out quickly.

Here is a photo. They are the three lighter green "balls" in the foreground.

-Babka

{{gwi:549762}}

Babka, it's always such a treat to see your garden. I love your fence, too- it is an addition rather than something you try to cover up. Wonderful.
Renee

Babka,nice garden.
Kathi

Here's my problem with golf ball pitisporum. I'm not sure how to trim it to keep it small and rounded. Do I start from the bottom? Also, my hands hurt when I trim it manually with shears. I have 12 of them. Is there any kind of power tool that I can use?

You can buy fairly inexpensive battery powered or electric corded hedge shears that work well for light shearing. They are not suitable for cutting substantial branches but for light shearing they work well. The ones with electric cord you need to be very careful with because you don't want the shears to cut the cord, which could be very dangerous, but the tradeoff is you don't have to deal with recharging the battery.

There are a whole lot of pruning demonstrations on you tube. Boxwood is similar enough so those videos are worth watching.

For globe shapes I start at the top.

Thank you! This is very helpful.

Wow! Thanks so much. We had raccoons do the same thing to ours. Nice picture. I love this site!