Weeping trees do that. I suggest snipping it whenever it starts to creep across the ground, so that the branches are left touching the ground or nearly so each time. And not pruning it to look like a mushroom or umbrella, with branch ends well above the ground.

Otherwise the bother of how weeping trees look with branches pointing at level ground is solved by planting these with a space underneath. This can be a psychological space such as a body of water - where the tree then forms a curtain behind or over part of the water - or an actual physical space such as the open air next to a wall. With in the latter case the planting of a weeping tree at the top of a wall giving the specimen an area to tumble down into.

Thank you, Embothrium! I appreciate this information - now I will feel comfortable to trim away these branches!

Also, your ideas about how the weeping tree may be planted are very intriguing indeed. I have mine planted in a square area which is surrounded by a U shaped flower bed as part of a linear, modern garden design - I wonder if that may achieve the same effects that you described above???

BTW, this thing is just getting very long with the branches but it really needs to be "fuller" and wider looking. Do I just need to be more patient since it was only planted 2 years ago?

Thanks again!

If you could post a picture it would help people give you targeted advice to answer your further questions.

Thanks, floral_uk! I just snapped some photos today and here they are:

Here's a closer shot of the Rosy Glo Crabapple - please pardon the lack of trimming yet! I must get to that soon:

The 5 little shrubs there are Little Quick Fire which were planted there this year. They were separated by some variegated leaf hostas which were divisions that were planted in the ground in June this year. So I think that you got the picture now! :-)

What do you think about this design? I am sure that after trimming the branches of the Rosy Glo Crabapple, it will look much, much better than this mess!!!

tech question.. why do your pix look so surreal??? ...

if your plant has been in the ground for 2 years ... then there should be no further need for the shipping stakes ... is there some soil related issue that you fear it will fall over.. that it hasnt rooted into native soil???

if it were me.. i would prune in sporing.. after the flower show ... no real need to do it now.. or this fall ...

i plant flowering trees to enjoy the flower season.. i do not prune them to lessen said flower show ...

so what im saying is.. you had 2 presumption.. now or spring.. imo .... both are wrong.. third option is after bloom ...

if you already did it.. whatever.. there is always next year...

ken

Thanks, everyone! cearbhaill, I just went out and did a slight trim - what a different a minor haircut makes! The whole thing looks much neater now. Thanks! Now, I don't think that it shows much of a different in the photo below, but trust me, in reality, it is much neater. Some branches were literally growing along the ground!!! The branches are just a few inches off the ground but it is not that apparent in the photo though...

Ken, I think that the photo before looked surreal because my phone camera somehow added some bokeh effect to it, so that the background is blurry! It didn't do that to this latest photo.... who knows why? These smart phones are getting too smart for their own sake! LOL!

In terms of the staking, the little tree actually was not staked last year. Then it started to really lean badly towards one side, probably due to the wind direction. So this year, I just staked it gently, so that it will grow up with a straighter trunk. You can see that there is still a slight lean but not as bad as before. I agree that the stakes should be removed soon.