Large Acer taking over

[BalloonSlayer]

I have a beautiful red Acer (Japanese Maple) plant/tree which is planted in a raised bed on our patio. It has been there since we moved in 9 years ago.

It is now about 8' x 6' and hangs over on to the patio about 4' It's lovely but is getting a bit dominant.

I would like to cut it back a bit. Should I? Can I? When? How?

You can tell I want to do it today, can't you?

Hi my DH is a gardener and says they are pretty robust. He reckons you should cut branches back to the main trunk (so it's less obvious that it's been pruned) and that now is a great time to do it.

Hope that helps!

Thank you gardenpixie!

Sorry to take so long to reply.

I shall attack it as soon as this pissing rain stops.

I am relieved to hear that now is the time to prune! My potted acer is a mere twig but it suffered during the drought in that the leaves of the new tip growth died- then, with the late rains, it has reinvigorated, growing new tip shoots so I had a bit of a shaved poodle effect- inner growth, then thin, bare whippy branches, then another cluster of growth at the tips. So I sadly pruned it back to the inner growth. Thus I've lost a year's expansion of the bush but I guess the year did thicken the trunk a bit AND ultimately it will look better than if I left it!