Japanese Maple Make-Over

Here's a "before-and-after" if I ever saw one...

Exhibit A: new-to-me garden, mature weeping Japanese Maple with lots of accumulated dead wood.

This is the easiest and most gratifying pruning job ever: stick your arms into the birdsnest, and gently wave them around. Tinder-dry deadwood will snap off live branches like popcorn.


I only used my saw to remove larger dead branches, and fine-tuned dead twigs by hand. And Voila...

Japanese Maples should look good year-round; they are naturally elegant with a little TLC. I didn't prune any live/green wood, as this isn't the best time of year for that, with all nature's forces rushing to life. Pruning at this time of year tends to stimulate new growth, and I don't want any zealous wing-y branches launching into the stratosphere, so will touch up (if necessary) in the summer slow-down.