This tree tries to tie itself into knots every year.
It's old - I'm pretty sure it's at least 40 - and some of the branches have major woodpecker and bug damage.
There are lots of new sprouts that are crossing other branches, or growing in weird directions. The key to healthy trees is to take out anything that's crossing, growing straight up, growing back towards the center of the tree, and anything super close; the leaves need room to absorb sun and have good air circulation. I generally try to leave 6" between branches, although this tree sometimes makes that difficult.
It would be easier, actually, if this were a fruiting tree. I'd take out a lot more branches. But - it's ornamental, and I'm trying to let it be pretty... and I also don't want to remove more than 1/4 of the total branches of the tree, and I took out a couple of huge limbs, so I'm being conservative for the rest of it.
A couple hours with a set of clippers and a chainsaw, and it looks a lot better.
What's crazy is that this thing will put out so many new branches this year that I'll have to prune it just as hard next year - without the removal of huge limbs, hopefully.
In a few weeks, it will be covered in beautiful pink blossoms, and will hopefully look like it "just happened" to grow that way!
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