'Crimson Queen' was a large 7 gal. from Gledhill, with some crossing main branches that I have never been able to prune away. It is the specimen focal point right in front of the house. It needs a lot of pruning to keep it elegant and more open -- it wants to be a giant haystack.
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| Spring 2010, in full red color, before haircut |
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| 'Crimson Queen' on fire November 12, 2010 It has never been this fiery red in fall since! |
Winter 2011: Heavy snow split 'Crimson Queen' right in two:
I clamped it and then the next spring, in 2012, I removed the clamp and inserted a stainless steel bolt through the crack. It's doing well, and when it is leafed out, you can't tell it is surgically held together.
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| April 25, 2012 |
The foliage turns from clear, bright wine red in spring, to deeper red and then an interesting brick red or brown in summer. This weeping Japanese maple can become quite a big haystack if unpruned.
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| May 11, 2012 |
In fall 2012 I pruned up the canopy by a lot -- about a third of the branches were removed. And in winter 2013 I pruned out winter damage, and that removed much more. This tree is bent on self destruction. It falls apart each winter and I rescue it as best I can.
In 2013 you can see the effects of the winter pruning: the tree had a lopsided horizontal shape that I was not aiming for. More severe pruning for a more upright and perhaps narrower profile is needed.
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| June 2, 2013 |
It survives into 2014 and the repair bolts have held. It still needs more pruning to keep the canopy open, but it is doing well. The color is rich, the shape arching and I think I can keep it attractively pruned now.
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| May 17. 2014 |
More damage in 2015. Winter was once again devastating to the branch structure and a major part of the tree had to come off.
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| 3/24/15 A close up of the breakage, and what the tree looked like after the branch was removed. |
But by spring you couldn't even tell it had been pruned so severely, although I'm not sure I like the way it is developing so horizontally.
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| 5/24/15 |
For all the angst about breakage, the hard pruning and chopping and hacking I have been doing each season doesn't seem to affect this tree at all.
