pruning small trees

Welcome to GOY, Jim.
I have 'googled' Cornus Contragetta and it tells you to cut back harshly in March so it might be a bit late his year. I'm not an expert. If no other responses to your quesion try 'google'.
Good Luck

thanks jim

Hi Jim you can't prune the Acer back now as it will stress the tree but, why do you want to prune anyway? Is it too big for the space?

H i yes it was in a pot but loves its new garden location and got quite big?

You could raise the canopy but as to actually pruning back I wouldn't want to try!

The Acer Palmatum comes under group 1 pruning, where you just prune out any wayward or crossing branches to maintain a perminant healthy bush and this must be done in very late Autumn/Winter or very early Spring.

Thanks all jim