Please reply only if you have tried and tested pruning a physocarpus diabolo (ninebark) into a tree. Please tell me how you did it.
I've been successful with lilacs and forsythia but the physocarpus is already established- about 6 foot tall and wide.
Thanks.
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You can make a shrub into a " standard " but that doesn't make it a tree.
Don't try and make it a one stem lollipop. It will look dreadful and be prone to damage in heavy winds and hard winters. Multi-stemmed shrubs look good this way as long as you maintain the effect by ruthlessly brushing off with your hand any new buds that form along the bare stem.