Jake Hobson

1. Choose a young shrub. As its trunk will be young and malleable, you may wish to either train the leader using a cane, or gradually introduce bends or kinks into the trunk using stakes. if desired.

2. Remove any unwanted branches and train down the remaining ones with twine if necessary.

3. Continue to train new branches down and begin to consolidate the lower ones through pruning. Clipping with hand-held topiary clippers will soon thicken up the foliage on the branches, and decisions about branch shape can then be made. Forming the head, the final tier of the tree, involves cutting the leader and training down its side branches the whole way around the stem, creating a parachute effect. This is then treated like any other side branch and gradually clipped into shape.

4. A finished example of the tamazukuri form.

A full introduction to tamazukuri can be read here.

Text and illustrations from The Art of Creative Pruning by Jake Hobson (Timber Press 2012) www.timberpress.co.uk, available to buy here.     Illustrations © Margaret C. Leggitt.

For more on Cloud Pruning, including an introduction to the subject, a gallery of photographs, Jake’s books and tools, click here. Jake’s own website is here.