I have had this cork bark maple for a while and lately have been focusing on trying to make it look somewhat decent. The spring flush is almost finished its push so I decided to thin it out and give it wiring to position the new growth. I started by removing the unnecessary new growth, that which had sprouted in unneeded spots, particularly from the bottom of the main branches. I also cut every other leaf off of the branches to make it easier to wire and to also allow more light into the interior. When the branches set, hopefully by the end of May, I will remove the wire and cut everthing back to one or two nodes, if I am lucky, I will get another flush of growth to wire.
This is what I started with:
This is what I started with:
After all of the wiring, thinning, and trimming:
