Came across this today, and thought others would be interested. The interview is with the head horticulturalist at Anderson Japanese Gardens. Offers some good insight and tips on pruning from 25 years of experience. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W6y4803ID0&feature=youtu.be&app=desktop
The interview may be interesting to some folks. But I find the answers too generalized to actually fit the frame-work of "tips". Nothing he says has flaws in it, at least in the context of the pruning he is used to doing. But the answers are too vague to really advance a novice's pruning ability. I can tell that if were were both interviewed, the answers would take a different path altogether. The biggest problem I see with homeowner pruning, if they give any real effort to trying, is not so much shearing, but that they don't know how much to remove. Pruning books tell you what to remove. But the books don't say how many years it takes to get rid of the defects, etc.. And therein likes one of the biggest problems I see. Either the homeowners try to take out all the problems at once ... or ... they are too afraid to remove the big pieces that should come out. But "shearing" would not be the problem I find. Too bad they couldn't ahve taken the entire interview into the field. Bet it would have transformed a mere talk into useful visual instruction.
^ I agree, the better way to do this interview would have been to be out in the garden, demonstrating the various principles, etc, he was talking about.
