No uncertain terms

In botanical babble, this is a panicle: "a compound raceme, a loose, much-branched indeterminate inflorescence with pedicellate flowers (and fruit) attached along the secondary branches."

Right. I call it a flower stalk on our duranta, and this is how it looked in the greenhouse last week. Actually, the whole thing was covered in these blue beauties.

And after the coming-out party, Robert asked me to prune it to a nice standard ball to force thicker growth over its summer residency at the cabana. Now, I thought I knew what he wanted, but I wanted to make sure, so I asked him: "Prune?"

"Yes, prune."

"You want me to whack the hell out of it."

"Yes." So I did. Bye-bye panicles. See you in a few months.