Our newsroom gardening fanatic slash crime reporter Stacey Mulick has another dilemma in her yard: a draping Japanese maple. She asks this week, how to prune without turning the tree into a disaster? Here's what Stacey has to say:


I love my Japanese laceleaf maple.

When we moved into our house five years ago, we didn’t have a laceleaf. We had some of the standard fare planted in flower beds of houses in housing developments – laurels, rhodies and euonymus.

I wanted a laceleaf maple instead. I removed several plants and straightened out the leg of my front flower bed, then planted my little gem. The tree has done real well over the past four years.

But looking at it, I wonder if it’s about time to prune. I’ve not done any pruning yet and don’t really know how to go about it. The Western Garden Book suggests pruning in late summer, early fall but doesn’t offer any suggestions about how to go about it or where to start.

I’ll take any advice I can get.