Al: Oh, I do indeed have more trees! I am a bit overwhelmed by the number of pots both in and outside of my home. I am an incurable collector. I could ask you questions about them all day. . . Back in March, you answered several of my questions about making the gritty mix when I was just embarking upon that adventure. I put a few plants that were on death's doorstep in the mix then. A few didn't make it (a draceana among them), a few are thriving (the aloe and spider plant love the mix!), most have held steady and are starting to show signs of growth (shefflera, swiss cheese philodendron). So I do have a sense of the patience required when repotting before the optimal time. I'm looking forward to seeing the results of undertaking things at the right time. It's been nice to practice with the mix, learn about it's water retention, and begin to tweak it for my needs before I moved my most-beloveds into it. This week I chopped an enormous floppy jade back to it's thick base and put it in the mix. Looking forward to that development. Also a favorite cactus whose name I don't know; it's about four feet tall, main stalk about 3-4" diameter with five stalks coming off the main, so maneuvering it was an exciting project. I was nervous about that one, but glad I did it when I got in there and saw how cemented the roots were in the hardest soil I've ever dealt with. I have a ficus lyrata (fiddle fig) that also reaches the ceiling, so I'm using your advice to give it a new shape. I'm planning on following roughly the same timing for it as for the elastica. I have a very big Bloodgood maple in a pot that's too big to move. I'd love to get that back to a manageable size, but it has just leafed out beautifully and I'm thinking that it is not the right time for that. Your comments are welcome. My other big question involves conifers. I have a very sick Wilma Goldcrest Cypress, and some kind of arborvitae (I think). I've noted that you don't recommend bare-rooting these, but cutting wedges. Is that correct? What about timing? Okay, I've rambled enough. As you can probably tell now, I'm addicted (like many folks I've read on this site). Thanks again for your help. I'm really enjoying learning about the plants, seeing their roots, and giving them conditions to thrive. blessings, brenda

It certainly depends on the type of tree. And we have a lot of new rules about pruning, including when. When it comes to most deciduous trees, including fruit trees, pruning during the growing season (spring into summer) is the best way to shape and keep the trees in bounds and at the right size. For serious limb removal, we wait until they're dormant (winter). For evergreens, it's about the same -- during the growing season to shape, size and fix. The down time for evergreens varies so it's hard to generalize about when to do anything serious. Joe

Pruning of the varieties you've mentioned really should only be done to facilitate the shape of the tree and to remove dead or diseased wood. I'd also bear in mind the need to open the tree to ensure good air circulation and ease to fruit picking. I would do it all in winter when the tree is bare being mindful that you may also sacrifice some the next season's fruit bearing wood, but it can be done any time. You also need to consider the fruit load the tree can happily carry, for example, old Pete Cundall on Gardening Aus. advised you should never allow a lemon (or other citrus) to bear pickable fruit before it is 5 years old. I think that advise is applicable to all fruit trees, although at 4 years I've allowed my Washington Naval orange to provide a few very nice oranges. B.

This is a late comment, when air-layering bear in mind that sometimes it takes the air-layered plant over a year to form adequate roots, so the time that you start the process is really non-critical. The only exception being if you are in an area where the air-layer might freeze, or become excessively dry. But since you are in zone 10, you shouldn't have to worry about the freezing part, and if you keep the air-layer moist, (but not soaking wet), it should be successful. The only other thing to keep in mind is that some plants do not air-layer well. Plants with fleshy roots, (pawpaw for example)