Yes, choose your main central trunk and remove all other limbs and lower leaves. This won't work on all as some are naturally shrub shaped but will for most.

Good luck Kasha...I like both...but the tree shapes take up less space and the blooms show off a lot better IMHO

Lucy

lol, I cant decide which I like better..shrubby you get more blooms, and its so nice n full...yet tree like is just more stately looking..cleaner looking..and like Lucy said, take up alot LESS space, lol.

Often the small plant we have originally started out as an above-the-Y cutting, and these will never really make that tall straight-trunk beautiful tree we see in pictures. So you need new basal shoots. Get it in the ground in a great spot with afternoon shade and a good soil. Try using some composted manure for the extra nitrogen for that tall, fast-growing shoot that will someday be your new trunk, and also use a nitrogen-rich "grow" type fertilizer.
After you get the new shoot high enough, then you can cut away the old short trunk and root it for a friend. Also switch back to your regular bloom-type fertilizer once the trunk is tall enough. :)
- Tom

Tom-
Great advice- guess what I brought home yesterday? a beautiful truckload of 1 yr old composted horse manure... it has old sawdust mixed in it... I was piling it around everything til dark tonight... we are going to get 2 dumptruck loads of it next week! I'm in heaven! I wasn't seeing any blooms on my brugs yet- so I buried some wooden kitchen matches aroud each plant, a week ago- now I'm seeing many blooms on my plants... I will try what you suggested, I'm having way to much fun!
kasha77