Pyracantha espalier

Nothing is easier to train into an espalier form than the Fire Thorn (Pyracantha). If you want to get in some practise before launching into espalier apples and pears, then this is a good way to start. An espalier is a way of pruning shrubs and fruit trees so that they create a series of horizontal branches — usually against a fence. This makes a very compact and ornamental display – far more stylish than a normal hedge. Pyracanthas are excellent candidates for training as they produce an abundance of side shoots along every branch. The shoots are extremely pliable and can easily be bent into shape and twisted around wires. Trained this way, Pyracanthas can cover almost any size area: As you can see above, mine is now 6’6″ (2m) high and heading for 12′ (3.6m) wide and it is only three years old! Along with this they are generous with their flowers which are produced in May and are followed in late summer by berries which can be red, orange or yellow, depending on variety.

Unfortunately, flowers occur mainly on young wood, so flowering will be curtailed on a mature espalier as much of this new growth will be cut back each year to maintain a neat form. That said, flowers should be seen as a bonus, as the main purpose of an ornamental espalier from a design perspective is the creation of a strong geometric form which provides structure and interest all year round. In this regard pyracantha excels as it is evergreen and very tolerant of tight clipping. The results can be as striking as the finest topiary and even take on some of the qualities of Japanese cloud pruned shrubs if that is your thing.

Downsides

Pyracanthas have several downsides. First off, the thorns. The thorns are vicious and everywhere. When pruning, thick gloves are recommended. On the plus side, any fence with pyracantha on it will prove a massive deterrent to intruders. Second, many pyracanthas suffer from fireblight — a bacterial infection which leads to stems wilting and dying back. Affected stems need cutting out immediately. This disease is spread from plant to plant by pollinating insects so pruning to prevent flowering is an effective preventative strategy and a worthwhile compromise to protect a mature espalier that may have taken years of attention to create. Fireblight affects several related species including hawthorn, apples and pears and can be spread between them. If you grow any of these, keeping your pyracantha flowerless will help protect it (and them) from infection. Alternatively, the ‘Saphyr’ range of pyracanthas is resistant to fireblight.

Chronology of my espalier pyracantha

1st Year (2018)

August 2018 – Planting and initial training

I purchased this plant from a nursery as it had three good shoots in a symmetrical arrangement. I tied the two side shoots down into a horizontal position along tensioned wires that I had previously set up along this West-facing (actually WNW facing) fence:

• See my post on creating superior wire supports here.

2nd Year (2019)

April 2019 – First-year training

This year I renovated the fence behind the pyracantha, adding trellis to the top, and staining it black.

The nylon Gripple wires had to be removed during this process, but due to their clever tensions block this was easy to do.

• See my post on making the trellis and staining the fence here

Pyracantha produces multiple side shoots along every main branch, so you can usually find close to the right place to train along a wire. Unfortunately, mine didn’t have one to fill the second row on the right. I assumed that it might put out one in the following year, but this proved not to be the case, so my espalier may be forever lopsided.

Here’s the plan: if no suitable side shoot starts to grow I will allow a shoot from a horizontal above or below that wire to develop and train that one across the gap and then along the horizontal wire. You can see such training in this flowering current at West Dean gardens:

3rd Year (2020)

In just two full years of training you can see how far the Pyracantha espalier has come. I am still missing a couple of tiers, but there is plenty of time to fix that. The effect is already impressive and has taken very little work to achieve. It has created a definite focal point and (along with the black fence stain) made a real feature of this previously drab part of the garden.

Update: Autumn 2020

True to form, there’s a really good crop of berries this year. In future I expect fewer as pyracantha flower (and hence fruit) on new wood, and as the espalier becomes mature, I will be pruning most of this off. But for now: enjoy!

Update: 4th Year (2021)

As you can see the pyracantha is looking really great! This spring I pruned off all of the shoots coming off the main stem between each horizontal tier revealing the ‘trunk’. This has really improved the overall look and brought it much closer to my intended vision.

I didn’t do this earlier in case I needed any of the side shoots to train in to replace a failing main horizontal shoot, but this is no longer necessary as they are all doing so well.

If you look at the previous photos (May 2020) you can see that a couple of the side shoots were quite under-developed, but they have grown out nicely and the whole thing is looking much more balanced.

I cannot emphasise enough how easy this espalier has been to create and maintain. I only attend to it two or three times per year, and then only for 20 minutes or so. This is really something anyone could achieve. The main requirement is having the vision of where you are going and then being persistent over several years.

By the way, the black fence looks good doesn’t it? It sets off the vivid green foliage and grey trunk beautifully: much better than the boring grey-fence panels did before I stained them.

Update: 5th Year (2022)

It is interesting to compare this photo (mid-April 2022) to the one immediately above (early-May 2021). You can see how much it grows in one year. Of course it was pruned in the summer of 2021 to shorten shoots that formed along the branches so that the foliage remained tight to the branches. The tips of each lateral were also tied in to the wires, extending the arms, on average, an additional 30cm either side. With each passing year the espalier gets better and better. It is looking really impressive now. Not bad for 5 years work!

MAY 2022

Just coming into flower.

SEPTEMBER 2022

Update: 6th Year (2023)

The pyracantha reached a width of approximately 14 ft (3.6m) this year. It has continued to be one of the highlights of the garden, despite being low-maintenance and easy to live with.

△ April 2023

The photo above shows the pyracantha espalier in the context of the wider garden. It fits in perfectly with the topiary theme, creating a wonderful and space-saving backdrop.

◁ MAY 2023

New leaves and emerging flower-buds are bright green. You can clearly see the six tiers in this picture. The lower tier becomes partly covered by the Japanese forest grass growing at the base of the trunk.

▽ SEPTEMBER 2023

With careful pruning of only the longer shoots, I was able to keep more of the berries this year. They certainly produce a long-lasting display: I think they have been clearly visible for a couple of months so far.

▽ December 2023

Being evergreen, the winter form of the pyracantha remains strong. Here it is outlined in frost.

I pruned off the berries soon after, before they turned to mush.

Update: 7th Year (2024)

Going for Green

At the start of the new year, the pyracantha was approximately 15 ft (4.5m) across. I snapped the photo below with my old iPhone, so it’s not the best quality, but it provides the same head-on shot, like the previous photos, for comparison (April, 2024):

Between April and May, the Pyracantha puts on a lot of growth, ending up rather shaggy. I decided to trim it early, taking it back to produce neat horizontals, but in doing so removing most of the flowers.

This is an option every year in the spring: leave the flowers on, and only trim longer shoots, or cut it back tighter. The former gives you flowers and fruit, but the latter provides a neater looking green form. By cutting back hard this year, I hope to improve the lines, so that I can have flowers and fruit next year.

Here are some photos that show how beautiful it looks when kept as a simple evergreen structure:

The choice of flower & fruit vs none can be made (I have found) on a year by year basis. To make the point, next year I’ll aim to keep the flowers and fruit and see if I can see any difference.

Update: 8th Year (2025)

Back to Berries

Here is the garden in May 2025, with the Pyracantha entering its eighth year of training, and now 19ft / 5.8m wide.

I have only given it a light prune, just removing long shoots with secateurs. I think that there were fewer of these side shoots this year — possibly a result of keeping the shrub more tightly pruned last year.

Following last year’s tight pruning, I was not sure that it would produce such a heavy yield of flowers, as pyracantha flowers on new wood, and with tight pruning, there might not be so much young growth for flowers to grow from.

But I needn’t have been worried, becasue, as you can see, there are flowers all along the side arms, creating a very beautiful display for many weeks.

I like Pyracantha flowers as they are very neat, precise and numerousl: starting from pointelist buds, like so many pin heads, which open to numerous clean five-petalled stars.

May 2025

◁ June 2025

Allowing flowers to form on a Pyracantha espalier (by not pruning them off in April), has a few downsides, in that one has to deal with the faded blooms (in June) and rotting fruit (In mid-winter), both of which are mitigated by tight pruning in spring.

Here, you can see the spent flowers, which brown as they go over, leaving the pyracantha looking a bit tatty for a few weeks. The old petals can be encouraged to fall by shaking the limbs, or going over them with a soft brush.

Any pruning over the coming months, needs to be done with care, so you don’t accidentally cut off too many of the berries that are forming.

These small inconveniences may not bother you and you can always create a distraction, such as here, where the pot of white lilies is the main focus, pulling the eye away from the floral debris behind.

The berries form slowly in large hanging clusters, over the next month or two. Initially each berry is small and green, but gradually they swell and take on colour. In my case, that being a brilliant orange, in full flow by the end of August. The berries persist right through to December most years, at which point they begin to rot. In some gardens, birds will take them earlier.

October 2025

The berries are stunning this year. there are so many, that the limbs of the espalier are weighed down. I’ll try tightening the Gripple support wires to see if I can straighten them out a bit!

Update: 9th Year (2026)

The pyracantha is now a full three fence panels across (18ft / 4.8m).

Spring Trim (Mid-March)

I lightly cut back the foliage to remove some of the remaining dried fruit stalks. It is notable, that after the hot summer last year, and with such a heavy crop of fruit, the foliage is looking rather sparse in places. I managed to tighten up the Gripple wires a little. The fence is gathering surface algae which I’ll try and remove before the pyracantha puts on too much growth.

Note: THIS POST WILL CONTINUE TO BE UPDATED AS TIME GOES BY