I've always admired purple smoke trees, so we had a landscaper plant one in the front of our house this spring. It's about 12 feet tall and the grower pruned it to get a clumped-tree appearance. There are about six main stems and I like that, but it's looking too tall and lanky.

It has six major stems. The grower pruned these back and about two or three stems grow out of each major stem. These major branches grow completely upright and are tall and leggy with little or no side stems. All the growth is at the very top and the stems look like long buggy whips which I find unattractive.

I would like to have a fuller tree and still keep the "clumped" tree look. Can I prune back all of the tallest most leggy stems by half in the spring? I want to encourage growth on all the stems so I still have a clumped tree, but a fuller one.

Maybe the tree will fill out more on its own next year when it starts its second year. Pruning back main stems usually encourages more side shoots, but I don't know if this is true with smoke trees. I would sure appreciate some advice!