Before: This poor tree was stuffed with leaves from Basswood (in midgrouund of photos). Thick leaf matter was decaying and caused a lot of inner branches to die. Also, pruning had been limited to outer edge of tree, where large, dead branch ends have been left exposed.

After: Ah, a happy tree! "Clouds" of foliage are starting to form. In the interest of the tree's health, pruning work will stop here for the season. In 2017, fine adjustments will be made to further enhance the tree's personality and refine the individual pads of blue foliage.