I love how fast crapes develop. I've had wire on and off this tree 3 or 4 times already this summer. Working on getting divisions and movement in the branches. Really glad I made the move to take everything back to stubs.
Did a little work on the cypress yesterday. It's coming along I think. Plans are to keep ramifying the top and creating a kind of 2nd flat top with the upper right branch.
Decided to take a shot before defoliation. While the leaves are big, they are smaller than usual for the first flush and the petioles are shorter than normal as well. I guess it has to do with the weird spring weather we had here in central VA.
I've been lazy this year with updates. It's doing well. I unwired the tree a couple months ago and the branches sprung back up. It had strong growth this spring, which I cut back fairly hard, looking for some back budding. I'll wire it again and thin it out this fall.
Deed has been done on this big crape. I did a lot more root work this year and managed to squeeze it into this 18" pot. I took the branches down to stubs and removed several entirely that weren't in good spots after a slight rotation on the repot.
The thick branch on the left is odd but I'm...
My favorite fall color for maples is orange. I was walking through the town of Abingdon, VA a few years ago and the main street was lined with orange colored maples. It was very pretty. This isn't my pic but those maples were this color.
It's just WAY too crowded for me. It's almost impossible to go anywhere, any day of the week, at any time without sitting in a bunch of traffic. My brother still lives up there and every time I go, I can't wait to get the hell out of there.
I like them quite a bit. They seem to develop fast, get nice and twiggy and the leaves reduce very well. I think it's a very underrated native species.