What's this tree and how should I prune it?

[danyeates]

Hi,

Can someone tell me what tree this is please? Also, when and how should I be pruning it? It’s become very large and I’d like to reduce it’s overall size, both height and width. We’ve only been in the house for 6 months, so this is the first autumn with the garden.









Secondly, how and when should I be pruning the Acer that’s behind it?

I've already given my peach and apple tree a good pruning!



Thanks,

Dan

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

Could be a Lime?

[danyeates]

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

Could be a Lime?

Looks different to any lime trees on Google images, unless it's a different variety.

If it helps, most of the summer the leaves were bright yellow, it's only the last 3 or so weeks the leaves have turned green. They're huge leaves. It took forever to come out in leaf as well, all spring and a bit of summer it was bare.

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

PS I know nothing about plants, as you can tell!

[danyeates]

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

danyeates said:

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

Could be a Lime?

Looks different to any lime trees on Google images, unless it's a different variety.

If it helps, most of the summer the leaves were bright yellow, it's only the last 3 or so weeks the leaves have turned green. They're huge leaves. It took forever to come out in leaf as well, all spring and a bit of summer it was bare.

Did it have flowers in the summer? Leaves look a bit like a mimosa too

No flowers. Just buds then straight to leaves.

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

danyeates said:

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

danyeates said:

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

Could be a Lime?

Looks different to any lime trees on Google images, unless it's a different variety.

If it helps, most of the summer the leaves were bright yellow, it's only the last 3 or so weeks the leaves have turned green. They're huge leaves. It took forever to come out in leaf as well, all spring and a bit of summer it was bare.

Did it have flowers in the summer? Leaves look a bit like a mimosa too

No flowers. Just buds then straight to leaves.

Yep, I've just Googled Mimosa, and the leaves are nothing like!!

[prand]

Looks like a catalpa to me - does it have white flowers and have long seed pods? (might not do if it's a young'un)

These grow up to 60 feet, so well worth keeping under control.

Whatever tree it is, I'd probably treat as any deciduous tree, prune after leaves have come off in winter or early spring. Trim branches or new shoots back to a tidier shape, but don't go too mad and give it too much of a haircut or it might struggle groing back.

Nice conservatory and garden furniture too!

[danyeates]

Haha! No, not very similar!

[danyeates]

prand said:

Looks like a catalpa to me - does it have white flowers and have long seed pods? (might not do if it's a young'un)

These grow up to 60 feet, so well worth keeping under control.

Whatever tree it is, I'd probably treat as any deciduous tree, prune after leaves have come off in winter or early spring. Trim branches or new shoots back to a tidier shape, but don't go too mad and give it too much of a haircut or it might struggle groing back.

Nice conservatory and garden furniture too!

Thank you very much. Yes, could be a catalpa. I'll leave it a little while before I prune. Do the same for the Acer, yes?

I'm still learning! I've given the peach (up the side of the house), apple (right hand side of the decking) and cherry tree (left hand side of the decking) a good prune this weekend as I wanted to get it done before the frost. Hope that's correct!

Thanks for the compliment! It's our first house and we fell in love with the look of it from the back straight away. We had to buy it!

[Sheets Tabuer]

I was thinking it looks like a young paulownia.

[danyeates]

Sorry, they're not great photos as they were taken on my phone into the sun. I'll try to get some better ones with my Nikon.

[danyeates]

Sheets Tabuer said:

I was thinking it looks like a young paulownia.

It has not flowered though.

[danyeates]

Looking back through my photos on my phone, this is how it looked at the end of May (bare!)

[Paul Drawmer]

I think it's Catalpa. Can get quite big.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalpa

[danyeates]

Paul Drawmer said:

I think it's Catalpa. Can get quite big.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalpa

Certainly looks similar to this:





Looks like they can grow huge!!

[danyeates]

I love the tree, the leaves are amazing, but I certainly don't want it any bigger than it is now. Just need to reduce the height and bulk of it. Best wait until all the leaves have fallen then?