By Rowanquery
United Kingdom 
We have recently moved and have a rown in the garden. We don't know how old the tree is but the shape is not very good - it's very tall and quite spindly. We'd prefer it to be bushier with more branches growing lower down the trunk. Is this possible or is it too late to do anything about this now? We were thinking of cutting the top out of the tree in the hopes that this would make it bush out more at the side but don't know if this would work. If it would, when would be the best time of year to do it?
6 Aug, 2015
Answers
And it is a very attractive shape as it is. It does look rather a potentially large tree for that position - some rowans do get pretty big. If you want a smaller tree it might be better to change it now.
6 Aug, 2015
Looks perfect to me too.
6 Aug, 2015
Hi, welcome to GoY, I agree with the others, it's a very nice shape as it is, and cutting out the leader would spoil the symmetry, Derek.
6 Aug, 2015
That is a fairly normal shape for a Rowan. You would be doing the tree no favours at all by removing the leader. All that would happen is that it would develop another one from the bud closest to the old one and look really odd with a leader going off at an angle.
6 Aug, 2015