yes ..

now ... which part did i answer .. lol ...

scion is taken from branches ...

sometimes it takes that branch.. a few years to understand it is now grafted as a leader ...

until it understands such ... it must be trained' vertical ...

once it understands.. no more staking ..

the plant you got.. may or may not be at one with the requisite understanding.. in other words.. how the heck do i know about your tree ...

it should be obvious ... from the pix at the link.. that sooner or later.. they catch on to the program.. and take themselves aloft ... as they are much taller than any human being can stake things ... so it does have an inherent ability to go skyward ... its simply a question of how long it needs to be trained ..

you will find out.. as it extends its buds in spring ... if it starts going horizontal.. it needs to be staked .... but be very careful because they are very brittle at this stage.. and you can easily snap them right off ... [been there done that .. lol]

but a few weeks later.. they can be so hard you cant unbend them ... and that is when you announce.. to the great unwashed masses.. that it is now a member of the 'weirder the better' club.. and you love it the way it is.. then 5 years later.. and 8 feet laterally.. it finally gets it act together .. and decides to go upwards .. idiot tree ... lol but i digress ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

I have three in a group (you may be able to tell by now that I like groups of three columnar types, like three people standing there having a conversation), all put in at different times and at different sizes. They mostly go up but every now and again one goes sideways and sometimes I cut the leader off and let the more upward-facing one take over, sometimes I don't. I am generally a member of the weirder the better club!

I planted a then 7 ft one close to 2 years ago. The top started to wander around as P.o.'Pendula Bruns' usually is doing when young, I read in several places. I added a stake tied to the lower mature trunk and tied the young top to it, might need to do this for a few more years. I did not cut anything.

With my 8 ft Picea glauca 'Pendula' it is different. It can not figure out which is the young leader, but then decides on it and lets one of the new branches go up vertically. No cutting or tieing there required.

Bernd

Thanks for the tips folks, I think I'll go for it, they are so beautiful.