how beautiful!!! I'm sure someone will chime in to help out.... :)

Chuy

Beautiful tree! I understand your predicament. I live in western NY, so knowing that I would wipe out blooms for the summer would make my decision harder. My friend Sonia lives in CA, and she cuts her trees during the summer, but she has a lot of plumies.

I would think that spring, or early summer would be the best time to prune. I would want my tree to have plenty of time to recover and also have time for the cutting to heal over. You definitely don't want that cut to get moisture at the risk of it possibly rotting. Most people actually seal the cut end. I have never done it, so I don't know exactly what is used.

I know you will get more input from growers who have to do this more often. I am not fortunate enough to live in a climate where my trees live outdoors year round, so pruning for me is not a big issue.

Good luck with your pruning!

Andrew

I think I'll be okay, but I was hoping someone with more experience could chime in.
I'm here on the Suncoast of Florida, so we have very long summers. The leaves will start dropping in about November, and then we have ugly stick trees until March.
Since this is my only "special" tree, I don't want to wreck it. White, yellow, and pink are a dime-a-dozen around here, but a lot of people don't like them because of how they look in the winter. That said, I have a list of a dozen people who want sticks when I prune!

Not sure how much you need to prune it. Just a few selected branches? Or the whole tree down to a point much lower down? I would guess it's not too late to prune and you'll get great new growth this summer which will hopefully harden off before Winter hits.

That is a gorgeous variety. Does it have a name? Like Intense Rainbow or similar? Gotta get me one of those!

Sorry, I'm not from Florida either.

I have no idea about when to cut or not. I was wondering if you do cut can I get a cutting or two from you? I would love to have this to start my collection of plumies.

I found out from the original plant owner that this is a Jeannie Moragne (sp?).

Cinnie0 - email me your snail address, and I'll try to remember to send you one when I get around to pruning. Just finished cleaning up from party yesterday...

Doesn't look like a Jeannie Moragne to me.

Well, I just googled it and glanced at the images and the color does look like most of them, but the shape is rounder (less pointy?) than most of them.
Seems there is a pretty broad color variation though.

Google 'Intense Rainbow' or 'Katie Moragne'. I think it's closer to one of those.

I'll attach a shot of my Jeannie in warmer weather. Note that the yellow is surrounded by red/hot pink.

But really, there are so many cultivars nowdays. Hopefully someone else can give you ideas about what it is.

Can't remember, does it have a scent? It sure is a nice combo of colors!

This post was edited by dave_in_nova on Tue, Jul 8, 14 at 9:37

Wow!!! That color is intense...just gorgeous!! Is that one of the smaller growing variety or normal size? Just beautiful!!

puglvr1,

The red/pink is a bit oversaturated in this poor picture.

I just couldn't get this one to bloom well for me in pots, so I threw it out! And no, I would not consider it a compact variety either.

Thanks for the info Dave...how do you protect it in the winter in your Zone 7?

pug,

My larger plants go in my heated garage (heated to about 55 degrees). Either on the floor or up in the rafters. The ones on the floor get a bit too cold for their liking, but that's all I can do with them.

The smallest ones can come inside the house.