I see many guides online which start with a new plant. This is what mine looks like and it’s been here for years, so I’m not sure if i can guide it into a tree anymore. If so, i guess now that it started budding would be a good time to trim everything but the leader?
If it’s dying back to the ground every year, training it into a tree might not be the best idea.
It’s not, I’m cutting it back down every year. This one was about 3 weeks ago. Leaves come out greener and it still flowers plenty.