acer care

Hi all, we have a Japanese Acer in the back garden which has grown quite a bit in the last year or so. I'm wondering whether I should prune it back or not ?
We inherited this with the house about 13 years ago, and it was lovely but grew slowly. A year or more ago we had the leylandii behind it chopped back quite severly and it seems like this acer has "put on weight" noticeably since then. It's a good eight feet high.

Picture at : acer
Thanks,

 

It looks lovely and healthy.. they love the West Coast and all that Scottish rain and drizzle!

You won't stop it growing, pruning will encourage more growth not less!

Trimming it with shears would be disasterous... and do more dammage than good.

You could... in winter, take out whole branches, back to the trunk, but be careful you don't spoil the shape.

I'm not sure why you want to prune it!

 

Hi Quercus, many thanks for your response.
Your good words have convinced me to leave well alone. A welcome second opinion for my inate laziness :hehe:
I spent the day on Sunday with lawnmowers, hedge trimmers, and about the only thing I didn't touch was that acer. I suppose I just thought pruning it might be the thing a professional would do.
Anyway, appreciate your input, and will leave it to our lovely rain,
All the best.

 

hahahahaha.. I spent five years out in Argyll, on Loch Fyne... and have just about dried out now!

Leave it be.. sometimes nature does it best!

 

I tend to agree that the tree looks well as it is and I, too, would leave it alone
The only thing I would add that, as it grows, you might want to remove the bottom branches to make it into a 'tree' rather than a 'shrub' as it is now
That would simply be a matter of choice

 

Many thanks for that too, whis4ey. I will note that. It's just a lovely tree / shrub which has never needed any care from me, and always looks good.