Show closer views of the new leaf sprouts. Ones that are in focus.

Thank you for responding. I will take pictures in the daylight.

In the meantime I'm thinking with all that slender, whippy stuff in the lower, older parts of the existing branch crown it's a top grafted 'Hakuro-nishiki' willow that has produced some partly reverted, more vigorous shoots. And this is the cause of the change you are seeing. Otherwise it can be seen that it never was a true weeping tree, in the sense of pendent or drooping. Unless there was a weeping scion of some kind on top that has been completely cut away, and all the shoots present now are from the non weeping kind it was grafted onto.

The vast majority of people who will come to look at your house when it is on the market will have no clue what so ever about what that green bush in the back corner is, was or will be. With better pictures someone here should be able to say what it is, was or could be. Basically it does not matter what it was before. If you do any pruning just look to give it an overall nice rounded shape of the tree's crown. Putting the thing in bondage will do nothing to help.

I checked images of Hakuro-nishiki and I'm not certain that is what my tree looks like in full bloom. Hakuro-nishiki is very attractive and full whereas this tree looked nothing like it last year

Did your tree have the same white variegated leaf color as the Hakuro-nishiki?

You've made a very good point about potential buyers seeing it as is.

Yes, my tree had the same white variegated leaf color.

Then Embothrium's ID of a top grafted Hakuro-nishiki is most likely correct and I don't know that there is a weeping form of that. The best color comes on new wood and that is achieved by hard pruning, but you need to be able to tell the difference between the root stock tree trunk and the top grafted part to know what to cut particularly if the root stock tree trunk has sprouted its own limbs.

So unless you can hire someone to prune it correctly, give it a smaller nice round shape and call it a day.

You're right. There's a lot more to this yard that needs help aside from this poor tree and I'm feeling quite certain at this point I'm better off hiring a professional. I much appreciate your help

please post a daylight photo later... but I am with Christopher - no one cares about a tree in the back. They will focus on the house - especially in this market. Focus your efforts on the home.

When a dappled willow is top grafted the lowermost branches grow out and down a bit just like in your picture. Hence your impression that the example shown here was a weeping tree. Since the entire top of this one will still consist of willow branches - whether they are all variegated at this point or not - and these have just sprouted recently you can cut every one of them back to a few inches from the trunk and start the specimen over. If done soon.

This operation will make the tree look a lot more like it used to, once there has been enough time for it to grow back out some.

need to see the new pix ...

but understand this.. tree time is counted in decades ... there is only one thing to do if you want to make that corner better .. THIS SEASON... cut it down and get rid of it ... cut to the ground and apply stump killer ...

or what chris said above.. 99% of peeps wont care .. and the other dude will already have a plan for a new tree .. lol .. the value of the house will have nothing to do with this tree ..

imo.. you can not regrow and reshape a tree in a few months ... and no rope system is going to sped it up ...

and im not sure there is anything weeping left on it ...

ken

If 'Hakuro-nishiki' it never was an actual weeping tree in the usual sense. Because they resemble the rest other than being more robust the stronger branches are probably reversions to mostly green leaves with associated greater vigor. Rather than sprouts coming from whatever willow was used for the trunk (I have seen French pink pussy willow used as a trunk for combinations with dappled willow on top - this produces different, more vertical shoot growth than what is being shown here).

With annual hard pruning at end of winter often being a routine maintenance procedure for well established specimens of dappled (and often other kinds of) willow in garden settings anyway that is all that needs to be done in this instance. Done promptly the renewed specimen will have plenty of time to rebound by summer opening times.

Just another thought for you. Your 92 year old father didn't do anything bad to the tree per se so much as he did nothing to it and it grew out of the artificially maintained state that a top grafted Hakuro-nishiki requires to keep looking how they do at the tree store.

Thank you for your response. I'm a nurse and can't get home to take the closeup pictures.