Standard Procedures

Growing miniature plants with storybook shapes and Victorian formality is easy, with a little know-how.

By Lee Reich

In the world of gardening, a standard is a plant whose naturally wild shape has been tamed to grow as a single, strong stem cap-ped by an unrestrained mop of leaves. Because they're miniatures, standards don't overpower average-sized spaces, and because their lollipop shapes resemble storybook-perfect trees, they're endearing. Standards were popular in the Victor-ian era thanks to their neat formality, which lent a dose of intimate yet upscale decoration to houses and gardens. In small herb gardens, standards frequently marked the intersections of axial features such as paths, and on patios, their crisp shapes framed doors to greet visitors.

Today, standards can be a charming addition to many styles of well-dressed old houses. Used alone, a standard be-comes an exclamation point, drawing attention to windows, doors, or other architectural highlights. Grouped together in a cozy cluster, standards become their own stylishly manicured area of interest.

Fashioning Standards
While nurseries mass-produce standards by grafting the bushy top of one plant onto the straight trunk of another (a technique used for making standard roses, sometimes called tree roses), at-home gardeners must develop their standards through selective pruning over time. The process is a forgiving one, if you're armed with patience and some basic knowledge.

You may use a plant grown from seed, a rooted cutting, or an established bushy plant to begin forming a standard. While an established, bushy plant re-quires that you first lop all stems down to soil level, it will take shape faster than cuttings or seedlings because its root system is already well developed.

When nurturing a fledgling standard, it's important to provide enough water, sun, and fertilizer to encourage vigorous growth. Allow only one main stem to grow; it will be the trunk of the finished plant. Select a shoot for the main stem that seems robust and is growing upright from low in the plant. Tie the stem to a stake every few inches to keep it straight with its top bud high and to suppress other shoots from growing below.

Depending on the plant's natural bushiness and vigor, other shoots may continue to sprout, so be sure to re-move any sprouts close to the ground. If you snap them off immediately, they will be less inclined to grow back. Shoots that sprout higher up along the main stem contribute to the plant's total growth and help thicken the developing trunk, but can also rob the plant of some of its vigor. So use your judgment. If the plant is hale, pinch the shoots back to a single leaf. On a weaker plant or one started from seed, allow shoots on the stem to grow out a few inches before pinching off their growing tips. That helps the plant garner strength because there are more leaves to perform photosynthesis. As a general rule, weaker plants should be pruned less often than vigorous ones.

Proportion Is Key
Once the stem reaches the desired height, it's time to start forming the mop head. The ideal height of the trunk depends on the density and size of the leaves. Rosemary, a naturally bushy plant often grown as a standard, has thin, huddled leaves that look just right as an 8 ball capping a 12 trunk, while the large, broad leaves of bay laurel, which also makes a nice standard, look better as an 18 ball atop a 4' trunk.

To begin forming the head, pinch off the top of the main stem. Because the top bud produces hormones that suppress shoots from growing below, removing it allows new shoots to form near the top of the stem. To create a dense head, pinch those new shoots off after every few inches of growth. You can also completely cut away any remaining shoots or leaves lower down on the trunk. Once your standard is full grown, periodic pruning is a must. Continue to snap off or cut away any shoots that grow from the trunk or ground at the plant's base. As for the head of the plant, trim back branches regularly to keep it to size, and periodically shorten a branch or two within the head to prevent overcrowding and stimulate the growth of some fresh, young sprouts.

Just about any bushy plant can become a standard, but the most upright, vigorous varieties of individual species are the easiest to train. For this reason, fuchsia fanciers often choose the Annabel, Tennessee Waltz, and Hidcote Beauty varieties for standards. If you are hoping to form a standard with a languorous, weeping head, you'll need to force a weeping variety up to head height or learn to graft two different varieties together.

In addition to fuchsia, rosemary, bay laurel, and English ivy, other plants commonly trained as standards include coleus, geranium, flowering maple, heliotrope, marguerite, and verbena. Because all of these plants were introduced to the United States at least 100 years ago, we have decades of experience growing them as standards, and they evoke the past with their form.

You may be surprised to see some plants that are usually grown as annuals on the standards list. They can, in fact, develop woody trunks when grown as perennials, but they will need protection from the cold during the winter. Because standards are miniatures that look good indoors and out, they're easily moved inside when cold weather approaches. That's what I do with my standard rosemary plants, which stand guard at my windows until spring returns.

Standards and a host of other special pruning techniques are the subject of Lee Reich's The Pruning Book.

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