“Twisted Japanese Maple”
Portland Japanese Garden
Many of the Japanese maples in the Portland Japanese Garden are truly a piece of art. How many years of meticulous pruning was required to create this piece of art? How many years of experience did the artists have before they even clipped a tip of a branch to initiate a desired growth pattern? How many years of patient guiding the growth habit did it take to create the twisted form of the trunk? All these and many more questions go through my head as I grab my pruning shears to form our Japanese maples at Heatherwood. Whatever I do now will impact how our trees will look like 20, 50, or even 100 years from now. It makes me nervous!