The following is a series of pictures of the chinese elm that I aquired last year in early spring. It had been originally trained to live indoors, given my new living arrangements, I was able to put it outside in the summer and keep it there since.
not the best lighting for a picture and not really indicative of the lighting it got here, but this is what it looked like when I got it.
here is a picture from last summer shortly after it was moved outside.. ok it needed a trim, but you can see the foliage really getting thick.
Here is a winter photo from october... the tree never really lost all of it's leaves, but it did stop growing.
As you may be able to see, I did a bit of a prune in the winter, to one of the branches that had grown, giving the tree a bit more of a rectagular feel this picture was take yesterday.
This also was taken yesterday, with a slightly different color feel.
While we could discuss form and shape for a long time, you can definitely see that this tree is far more healthy, and vigourous than it was a year ago. Moving outside and having a winter, even with some protection has really helped the tree explode.
If you have any form or pruning suggestions, I am willing to listen.