Good morning N, that wonderful wind shape look will be perfect, especially in your garden with the very large rocks.
Well, I went in a different direction. More subtle, I believe. Here is the tree today, I will let it grow the way it wants for the next few years, before I make any pruning decisions.
This is a picture from mid-May, before I removed additional 75% of the branches. So basically, there is less than 10% of the original branches remaining, and the tree is doing just fine. Japanese maples are quite resilient.
This is how the largest cut looked this time of year in 2021, and 3 years later this is the result. The trunk diameter at the wound is about 7 cm now.
Thank you, Emery! And here are the wounds for all the major cuts on the other side, and the way the tree looks right now on a dark, cold and drizzly evening. I have not done any pruning since, this is just the way this cultivar grows.
Thanks for showing, Nik. You can see in the first pic that the tree has completely compartmentalized the damage to the cuts. The picture is exemplary of good pruning: the cuts were done exactly at the branch collar, to give those results. I've taken a couple pictures over the years of places where I pruned really well (because even through I know how, my execution is sometimes lacking!) but I rarely show them to anyone. Good pruning gives me a lot of personal satisfaction though, heh. And I'll say it again, that is a gorgeous siting for the little guy. Really beautiful spot. Cheers, good to see you back. -E
Thanks Emery! I plan to do some light pruning in early summer to reveal the branch structure on the side facing the house. I love looking at it in the morning when I have my coffee, although it shows off its best when the sun shines on it from the opposite side (the room has southwestern exposure). Then it appears as if it is ablaze, compared to this dark and rainy morning.
