I'd be reluctant to remove such a healthy specimen unless it looked completely out of place or created a hazard. It doesn't look to me that your GM is doing either. Also, it appears you've got a few weeping/pendulous conifers in this bed already. I don't see much advantage in planting another.

One thing that does jump out at me would be the view being blocked from inside the bay/bow window. Is this a concern? If so, then maybe removing the GM would make sense. Glad I could clear this up for you. ;)

I would open it up a bit to emphasize the laciness and to give it more movement. That kind of pruning takes hours and the difference is subtle but significant. You already have some windows into it. It's a very pretty specimen and with some pruning could be even better.

if your willing to give it a year ... raise the canopy .... just to see how it ends up .... experiment ...

and if it ends up.. ugly as heck.. get rid of it ....

you dont count that from yard in acres.. eh .. lol ...

the top 6 feet might make one heck of a unique xmas tree ....

ken

question is , what's that huge thing by the stairs ?

seems that needs moving

ron

The Sawara is already on the way to opening up on its own, as these often do. Can't see the benefit of deliberately making it even less well covered. And if it is pruned to resemble or evoke topiary, cloud pruning, poodles etc. then it will become a formal element that does not jibe with the informal tone of the surrounding setting. (Traditional Japanese gardens are formal gardens, with most plants heavily pruned).

Cutting the bottom off so that it then appears to be floating or perched - as people so often do - instead of elegantly sweeping all the way to the ground, appearing well anchored I do not see as a step forward either.

The Sawara is obscuring the blue conifer behind it. However if you plant the potted spruce where the Sawara is then you will only have yellow off to the one side, with most or all of the other conifers in this arrangement blue, bluish or otherwise not yellow.

Yellow dominates so it is best to have a small amount of it, at the center of a planting - like a singer fronting a band. Maybe you should instead cut down the yellow spruce that is already overwhelming its position near the railing. put the potted spruce there, and keep the Sawara where it is. Then you will have one yellow conifer in front, surrounded by blue and green ones.

You do it purposefully and you take off some of the ends, which allows more light into the middle so it doesn't become as thin. I have one that I have been working on for years, bit by bit and it's lacy and beautiful.

Pruning to increase density or otherwise emphasize or encourage the natural habit is different.

In case anyone looking at this doesn't know it 'Golden Mop' is a specific cultivar that is not the same as the common 'Filifera Aurea'.

Tough decision. 97 times out of 100 I would say leave it. In this case however it does seem to be getting a bit big for the spot and is in the foreground(semi blocking the view of other smaller trees behind it), not the background. My vote (ever so barely) says replace. If it was mine, however, there is zero chance I am removing that nice specimen, at least yet. Hope that helps:) Great looking trees!

Sitting on the patio though, the tree provides privacy. I say leave it and revisit in a few years (pi years).

I'd show you some of mine, but they aren't well placed and I had to remove all the lower foliage. So I went over to my neighbor's place and took a picture of one his Thread Cypress that I traded him a long time ago. I started them from cuttings. The top needs opening a bit more but his wife hesitated pruning then because a Robin had an active nest there. I do think opening them up a bit helps make them look better in most cases, especially if they have enough sun.

mike

Those last two would look better if they were fuller, like the one asked about. So far the thinning has served primarily to make them look gappy and damaged - as though they have lost branches to snow or winds.

All the more so because the setting is not a formal Japanese garden, with nearly every tree or shrub in view sheared or cloud pruned.

Nothing has been sheared or cloud pruned. What you see are Emeralds about to go into a maze and possible some nursery stock and has nothing to do designwise with the cypress. My neighbor has a small part time nursery. He sells mostly Thuja plicatas, Emeralds, and dwarf gold Hinokis by appointment. He's winding the nursery down now that he's retired from his day job so he can travel more.

The Thread Cypress are opened up to show the trunks and branching pattern, making it much more interesting to look at than fully furnished to the ground, in my opinion. I suppose it's a 'all in the eye of the beholder' thing.

I like them, Mike. I like to look at trunks. Bonsai typically wants at least 1/3 of the tree to be trunk - not that we have to follow that in the landscape, but it is instructive. Big mops of foliage with no trunk visible lack structure to my eye. Yes, our 'eyes' are all different!

I'd keep the 'Golden Mop' as is for now and think instead about removing the spruce as Embo suggested. Be aware that 'Bush's Lace' will want to be 10 feet in diameter.

tj

Yes my cute little 'Bush's Lace' gets bigger and bigger and bigger...but it's lovely!