Weeping maples
Weeping maples are beautiful and easy to prune. The weeping habit is obvious since the branches cascade down nicely towards the ground. Now, I usually do two kinds of cuts. One removes any upright branches that refuse to “weep”. I reach in and make the cuts so they’re not visible.
The other type of cut involves gently lifting the branches off the ground, when the tree weeps too much. In this particular case we couldn’t see the lawn edge and the client didn’t like encroachment into her driveway.
The client
I deal with all sorts of clients, all year. The ones with deep pockets can be very challenging, like the owner of this weeping maple. She insisted on being present to monitor every single cut, and she wanted a demonstration before booking a date with me. I was shaking my head already. Then it got weirder.
I dropped to my knees, grabbed my professional Japanese snips and I made a gentle cut close to the ground. And as soon as my snips snipped, the lady made a sound that would be familiar to all consumers of pornography. Then I made another cut, and another, and the lady kept on moaning. I was absolutely sure that, if I had continued with the demonstration, her husband would have come out, asking what’s going on.
Trees recover
Making a few maintenance pruning cuts on a maple tree is fine. It will recover, so don’t worry. I gently lifted its branches off the lawn and driveway. It was more of a tickle, not a heavy pruning job. The goal was to ,maintain the tree’s weeping habit.
Interestingly, the same lady would later hire people to dismantle her backyard wall, without permission. I can only imagine the sounds she produced when the wall came down, but that’s for her husband to worry about.
I must confess, I delegated this pruning job to other guys. It was too annoying having someone monitor your every pruning cut. As a certified arborist, I find it laughable.
