Japanese Maples

[SILVERGUN]

My Japanese maple is maybe 15 ft tall and I've sculptured it over the years and it's incredible beautiful in the spring

Have you found that there a best technique and time of year for that?
I planted one about 3 years ago and it has grown to about 5' tall  (not from seeds).....it's doing well, but seems to be a little uneven, and I'd love to get it more symmetrical

I plan on being in the house for the next 50 years, so there's still time 

[tubenit]

You know how on Bonsai trees, they show alot of bark and have foilage on the ends of the limbs................... that's kind of what I do with my tree. 

It's very "airy" to look at (sort of like a Dogwood tree) in that you can see thru the tree and there is alot of tree and bark that is showing.

IF you were in a helicopter and looked down on the top of the tree, you would see a great deal of leaves.  If you are laying on the ground under the tree and looked up, it would be more like an umbrella with the leaves fairly thick more towards the end of the branches.

I trim and sculpture the tree in late fall or very very early spring.

Jeff

[SILVERGUN]

Here's a couple pics of the tree I mentioned.....I'm glad I went and looked close at it because it has developed some spots on the leaves, which could just be a result of the recent heat wave
We planted this to commemorate the purchase of our new house, and wanted to watch it grow as we grow old 
Any advice regarding treatment or trimming would be greatly appreciated

[tubenit]

I will try to post a couple pics of two of my Japenses maples this wkend.

I can't advise you because I don't know what the trunk looks like and where the main limbs are located?

I think the pics of mine may give you a reasonable idea on how I approach my trees.

With respect, Jeff

[SILVERGUN]

Thanks for dividing the thread......and I apologize for the hijack 

I don't always know when it's time to separate things, and I appreciate you guys helping me out 

[tubenit]

OK, here are some photos showing how much the bark shows.  Obviously, the tree color is out of peak.  Spring and fall, it's a bright reddish
burgundy color.  Really pretty.  I am thinking the larger maple is close to 15- 17 ft tall?

The trunk is not quite as smooth as a crepe myrtle, but sort of like that.  The #2 picture sort of shows it from the underside. In other words, looking down from a helicopter, you'd pretty much see just foliage.

Jeff

[PRR]

> I planted one about 3 years ago

It's still young. Just feed it.

Yes, I always had spots on my JM leaves and they don't seem to do a lot of harm.

> to watch it grow as we grow old

One maple may not do it. They can live 50++ years, or croak for no reason (worms, snowplows....)

I was looking at Dawn Redwood. Distant kin to 400++ year old redwoods. There's a marvy specimen in a public garden here. They grow well in many situations, except they may not like to be near other trees. Burgess Seed & Plant will sell you two 2' babies for $13. One thing to know: they are conifers but are deciduous-- in fall the leaves turn brown and fall off. If it was a pine/cedar you'd want to cut it up for firewood, but Dawn Redwood comes back in spring.

[SILVERGUN]

> I planted one about 3 years ago

It's still young. Just feed it.

My wife agrees with PRR,,,so I'm in a holding pattern

Tree still looks OK, and now I just check on it more often and throw a bucket of water on it in this heatwave