The first picture shows a shrub grown as a standard. The basic method is to remove all the stems right back to the base except for one straight one. You can then stake that single stem if it does not grow perfectly vertically of its own accord. As it grows upwards remove any side shoots to obtain a bare trunk. The easiest way to do this is to rub off any buds which appear. Also remove any new stems growing from the ground. When the single stem has grown slightly higher than the height you want your trunk to be cut the top off. It will produce side shoots from near the top. You just keep pruning them until you have the ball on a stick shape you want. The pruning will continue in perpetuity. Unfortunately, your current shrub doesn't really have a suitable vertical stem to start with so you'll need to train one in.

I have deliberately not discussed whether this is an attractive thing to do to a smoke bush. The owner of the inspiration garden appears to have a severe case of blobophilia.

Blobophilia. Ha ha. It's real thing and a highly desired look in places.

In addition, in my zone there is still enough winter die back on smoke bushes (all purple leafed ones, never seen the species here) that there are a lot of dead branches by spring. I always recommend that people grow the purple leafed ones just for the leaves and sacrifice the "smoke" by cutting the plants back in early spring as you would do to a Buddleia.

the one in the first pic is planted too close to the house.. necessitating said pruning ...

and as aggressive as this plant is in growth.. im not sure with that much pruning... you would get it to flower ..

as to your plant... it will probably be very hard to move ... its has a very problematic root structure.. and moving it will probably substantially increase suckering... which will defeat the purpose of you goal ...

if it were me.. i would order in a plant already in this shape for spring delivery to your local nursery ... and if thats not possible .. start your project with a young plant that you can start the project from a young age ... rather than your teenager who is going to fight you every which way ...

ken

this is s shrub.. and you wish to train it.. prune it.. into tree form ... in this case.. the words are important ....

it will always grow like a shrub ... it has no real disposition to a single trunk ...

is this hard to do.. no not really ... but you must deal with it for an hour 2 or 3 times per year .. so its more of a commitment ...

anyway.. the only reason i came right back is because i thought to do this.. and go figure on the result ... :https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=pruning+a+shrub+into+tree+form&iax=videos&ia=videos

and do understand these are general principles ... the rules dont change due to the plant name .. so as to the second link ... hydrengea... smoke bush.. whatever ... watch them all ...

ken

Ahhh, I didn't know the tree form was frowned upon, it looks beautiful to me not because of the single stem, but because of the fullness at the top... as opposed to the sparse stick-like appearance I currently have. I really just want a nice full smoke tree/shrub. I wanted to transplant because in its current location the tree is growing out toward the sun at an angle, I read this is because it doesn't get full sun. I just want a healthy full shrub/tree.

btw, I laughed at the teenager analogy.

I don’t think I was making a fuss. I assumed the OP wanted a formal standard, like the picture, not a multi stemmed tree form a la Yardvaark. So I described the process of producing a standard.

Thanks for sharing your advice, guys. Now I don’t worry about my smoke tree growing wrong. I wish I had found this thread earlier, so I would have got rid of my anxiety earlier. You know, my friend has even recommended tree surgeon near me so I could ask a specialist for help. That’s how anxious I was about it. Btw, guys, we’re about to move to another distant city, so I’ll have to pack and move my trees somehow. Do you have any recommendations for that? Maybe you could advise me about a related service? I’d be very grateful for your help.

It is not difficult to take care of. But to produce a formal standard as in the first picture some work and ongoing maintenance is required.

They are getting the density from the one in the first picture by cutting back the outside of the top. And that is all there is to it.

That would be the ongoing maintenance I referred to. It could need clipping several times in the growing season. The work, such as it is, is producing the standard form in the first place.

We would be remiss to ignore how aggressively a smokebush sends wild shoots up after pruning, including shaping. Achieving a dense, compact form requires delicacy and restraint. This IS s high maintenance and knowledge intensive shrub IMHO.

My neighbor has a beautiful 25’ high smoke tree. Said the training and trimming was minimal and only took a bit of time the first few years. His lawn guys trim any suckers in the spring now and that’s it. I bought one because of how lovely his is

file:///var/mobile/Library/SMS/Attachments/8a/10/46A78F06-7E53-485A-8553-09C58A8F122D/IMG_8322.HEIC
Not certain the image can be opened. I purchased my smoke tree as a single trunk. Currently the tree is 6 ft tall w/a limb span of 4-3 ft. in all directions. I like the single trunk; while aware it needs pruning. I see my options as:

1. Trim the lower limbs that are ~
   4 ft. from the ground
   a. At the 4 ft. height the trunk
   naturally forked w/3 nice size
   branches
   b. Prune the stems
   w/the goal of a some what
   rounded shape
   c. Pruned stems I’ll attempt
   propagation
   d. As is the pink plumes are
   not visible
   Option:
2. Leave more small limbs to
   begin a bush.
   a. In this case I can attempt
   propagating the small upper
   limbs and air layer the large
   limbs for a tree.
   air layer the larger limbs. The
   large limbs would suffice for
   a tree.

Thoughts appreciated although my explanation may not make any sense!! Look luck to all Smoke Tree growers. Their sap is toxic.

The file does not open. Please use the photo icon at the bottom of the comments to upload one directly. We can't really make any recommendations without seeing the plant in question.

OP's pic shows example of why not to plant a shrub like this in a tight location. Give Smoketree plenty of room to grow and be rewarded with a display of "smoke" as seen here, with little or no maintenance.

Just saying, I LOVE this small tree/shrub!