I had to see a dental specialist and unfortunately had to travel quite far as there were none that would accept my insurance in my town. Anyway, one of the towns I had to pass through was Ballston Spa, NY and Oh, my, I had to pull over when I spotted this Smoke Bush trained as a tree, just to take pictures. The photos don't do this beauty justice, but it was still worth almost being late for my first appointment just to capture it. What do you think?

It's beautiful. I wonder how old it is?

I have no idea, but I wasn't the only one who was stopped in their tracks when seeing this specimen. Pictures don't do it justice as it is much rosier than that. I wonder who came up with the idea to make a shrub a tree? It fit the house as that was a big old beautifully maintained Victorian.

Ahhh that's beautiful!

gorgeous!

Stunning specimen!
(wish your images enlarged rather than shrink down when clicked so we could see it better)

I distant relative had a camelia bush trained as a tree in their yard. They built a deck around it and it provided shade year round.

It was about 20 ft tall with even a wider canopy. Gorgeous!

I think you have to start it figuring that it will be for the next generation rather than for you to enjoy.

I think the short answer is probably that you plant it and leave it alone. I used to have some great lilac trees because I never trimmed them, which cause them to start suckering and form a thicket. So many shrubs are that way, like the mentioned Camellia. Those are great trees too when they have room and aren't planted where they will have to be trimmed to not bump into walls or cover windows.