Hi, not sure what you mean by 'after the sap has fallen' (you mean when it starts to flow in the spring?), but late fall might be good for some trees.. what are you thinking of? It's best if you do it with the largest possible rootball, get it into either a ready-dug hole (at home) in a filtered sun or shady area and water and mist well (til freeze-up). Don't cut any more roots than you have to when getting it out, and none til spring, or ideally leave it for 2 yrs - it takes that long to re-establish for a lot of trees, but then cut the ones necessary at the same time. Best bet is not to do it at all til early spring, and with help from a local bonsai club member who's had experience. Tap roots can be gradually cut back over time. People who dig big trees and have them survive in shallow pots in 2 yrs know what they're doing (have done it often) usually. Big stump? You never know, but obviously less likely as time goes on. You might get little sucker sprouts at some point, but then you also have a big rotting stump to contend with.

Nevermind on this question. I had not looked closely enough and was noticing pods which had fallen before turning brown (presumably from strong winds). Anyhow, I now see pods turning brown on the plant (which have seeds attached). I suppose it's best to let these get as brown/dried as possible before picking (even if risking them falling)?? I accidently also double posted this to native plants section thinking that this one hadn't posted correctly etc. Sorry.

Susan and Mary, Great news on your physocarpa. After reading your post, Susan, I have got to go out and bring in the pods left on the plant before tonight. It is cool and drizzly here this morning, a really gray day. I've got some seed I need to bag up to stratify. Keep looking for variegata seeds, and there just isn't any. The last two plants are in pots in the ground, but I read that the gophers will actually come up above the ground and eat something they like. I will be putting in half inch hardware cloth under the plants and around them this winter so to make a bed to protect them. Purchased Castor Bean seeds, and have treated the soil with castor oil. This has kept the gophers out of the tuberosa so far. Mary, like you, I love the tuberosa. I especially love the "Hello Yellow". The leaves are heartier than the orange. I find eggs on the plants in the spring. It seems I am finding lots to do this season. I have collected seeds from different plants and have been trading and sharing them. It was a good season for plants to put on seeds. I also am cleaning out seed pods from the Passiflora incarnata--they are everywhere. Looking at a new portable greenhouse called a "Convertible greenhouse". It works like a car convertible, and looks like something I could handle and store. Haven't taken the step to purchase it yet. That's the news here in BA. Saw butterflies last week in Austin, but didn't get to get out and chase them. Sandy

Thank you for all of your suggestions everybody. I also contacted the local Cornell Cooperative Extension service, and heard back from her a week later. She suggested that the reason for the bowing branches was stress from our very dry conditions in western New York (not drought, but near). She advised I give the tree a good drink, which I have been doing for a few days (plus today's nice soaking rain). The branches are slowly responding. She also advised I not worry about trimming off the pods, and not prune branches until winter, which I would have assumed. Embothrium, although the bottom picture makes it look like there are crossing branches, they're not really, though I can see how it looks like that from the picture. I'd already pruned those in previous winters. They look like they're crossing because they're so bowed over. Ken_Adrian, the lawn might look lush, but it's just average. I mow it high, and in the pictures, it was just recovering from drought as we'd had a heavy (though brief) rain a couple of days before. It gets shade half the day, so it didn't get as burnt as other parts. In fact, there used to be a black walnut there, and there was very little grass. I've been repairing it over the last few years. I fertilize a little, but not a ton. Cearbhaill, I'm not a tree expert, but I think the reason I called it a "redbud maple" is sites like these that call it that too: http://www.actforlibraries.org/tree-profiles-red-bud-maple/. Doing a little research, I see that true maples are species Acer, and redbud is Cercis. Thanks for the education. I appreciate everyone's help. I'll keep an eye on it.