Before:
After removing half a branch from the acer:
Already an improvement, I think. Now I really do need to go in there and thin the plox. In case you're getting tired of looking at that same view, here is another:
From left to right: euphorbia, curry plant, lavender. All the purple flowers seem to be thriving this year. I left last summer's dried bloom stalks on this lavender bush until late March. Then I cut all the dead-looking woody bits back to the little buds of green that were starting to show down by the roots. It seems to have liked the haircut. It's really hard to know when to prune, and how much to take off. I still haven't figured out the curry plant's cycle. The books don't help. They're full of "when does it bloom, on new or old wood, from branch points or from the ground, etc." Do I pay attention at the right times? Nope. So I'm glad the lavender experiment worked, and now I've got it documented.
Oh, OK, here are the deux chats:
