Red Robin

[r4chy]

Hi everyone,

This is my first visit to this site so please have some patience with me.

Ive just decided to take an active interest in gardening so I am a complete novice. I will probably be asking for lots of advice, so i hope i dont become annoying.

The first problem ive got is a red robin shrub, well i say its a shrub but its more like a tree. Ive just cut back some honeysuckle to ground level and the red robin looks like a tree. Its grown really tall with no branches below 4' and all of the leaves are growing in one direction.

I thought red robins were bushes, but do they have a tree variety. If it is a bush how could i encourage regrowth on the lower trunk. I dont know how old it is as ive only bought the house this last summer, but the trunk is about 4-5" wide.

Any help would be gratefully appreciated as the bush is a lovely one and i dont want to kill it by doing something wrong.

Thanks

Rach

[Newt]

Hi Rach,
Welcome to the wonderful world of gardening! Don't worry about asking too many questions. Gardeners love to share what they know.

The first thing I'd like to suggest is to update your profile with your state and hardiness zone. That will help you and us. Here's a zip code zone finder.
http://www.gardenweb.com/zones/zip.cgi

I've never heard of a red robin. If at all possible always use botanical or Latin names so there is a consistancy and we know we are talking about the same plant. I did some research at www.google.com by putting in the box in quotes with a plus sign like this: shrub + "red robin" Google is a great place to research plants and you can also click on 'Images' there to get pictures too. I'm thinking that you may have a photinia as there is a variety called red robin. If that is so, it wants to be a very large shrub or small tree. This plant is also often referred to as 'red tips'.

Often large shrubs will lose the lower branches because they weren't pruned properly. If the pruning results in the top being wider than the bottom, the bottom will be shaded and eventually not produce greenery. Take a look here, especially figure 15.
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/HO-4.pdf

Also figure 13 here.
http://www.ces.uga.edu/pubcd/B961-W.HTML#Technique

Take a look here to see if this is your shrub.
http://www.gardenseeker.com/Pruning%20Photinia.htm

Newt