Pruning the Yokohama maples | The Diggers Club

I hope it has never been obvious but over the years we have pruned our historic Yokohama maples many times. Pruning maples is always tricky and pruning at the wrong time can be disastrous. I was told once of a power company pruning vegetation away from power lines in Olinda and heavily cutting back an upright Japanese maple as it was making spring growth. The maple responded by dying back at every point and dropping dead. So be warned. When they’re growing strongly, it’s best to leave them alone. Conversely, it is amazing what is possible when the tree is dormant and also in mid-summer when twiggy growth has paused.

The problem with our Yokohama maples is that they are a bit too big. Bigger than I expected, certainly. And much bigger than the beds we made for them in 1992 when we shifted them to this spot. I’d say they’re four times the size they were then. What this shows is that Japanese maples and even lace-leaf weeping forms prone to scorch in summer are happiest in full sun. Moving them from under beech trees to a spot in the open is exactly what they wanted. However, we do make sure they are never moisture-stressed in summer. We give them a good drink before hot weather.

A maple tree — The 60cm gap from canopy to soil level will be increased to at least 1.5 metres as the tree spreads over the paving. The branching structure at the top of the tree becomes more vigorous and dramatic in response to pruning.

Now to make them fit their (slightly small) beds is an interesting exercise. The rule is no one should see where they have been pruned. This means going under the canopy and only pruning twigs about to be overshaded by new season’s growth. This is ‘canopy raising’, particularly when the occasional lower branch is also removed. And here I have to put my hand up and say we have removed some 15 branches from each of these trees, aiming to create a 60cm gap from the lower fringe of the canopy to the ground. There are no rules in doing this. What looks right is right.

Over the next little while, I expect visitors will be able to walk under these trees. In a couple of places they have already grown over the central paving where it is possible to inspect their superb branch structure from under these trees. This is unusual, I have to say. In fact, I do not know of another weeping maple anywhere one can stroll under. Given time, I reckon Cloudehill’s maples will meet in the middle – about 20 to 25 years or so. Put a note in your diary.

In the meantime, come in and under to look up at our magnificently trained Japanese maple umbrella.

Two hands prune a maple tree — The trick is to go under the canopy when pruning. The twig being cut hangs much lower than the upper twigs, meaning the cut will be invisible.