I'm wondering the same thing, maybe burning from the sun & heat if not the drought...........Better safe than sorry!

Well.....it is intended to be a "giant umbrella of purple" - that is its natural form and habit. And since it is a beautiful, well-developed specimen that is worth far more than any of the plants it might be shading out, I would simply move them! Typically with these types of low graft, weeping laceleafs, the branch structure is only visible in winter when the tree is out of leaf. What you want to avoid at all costs is to lift up the skirt of the canopy so it has an even length all the way around, like a bowl haircut. You can do some pruning in summer (June is ideal) but with these types of JM's a winter timing is best. You can clearly see the deadwood at that time (will be a pale gray) and it is much easier to see where branches originate to do any thinning that might be necessary and to enhance any curving or sculptural trunk and branch structure. Typically with JM's the less actual pruning you do, other than removing dead damaged or diseased wood and the odd bit of canopy thinning, the better. Unless you are growing as a bonsai, which is not the case here. btw, this forum is pretty dead (other than a few new posts and my contributions) and you will get much better responses to your questions on the care of Japanese maples on the Maples forum.

you dont mention how big your property is.. nor what your options are regarding how close you need to plant ... or if you have options of planting further into your property ... when i moved to 5 acres ... the hardest lesson to learn... was that i no longer needed to plant within feet of the property line .. and i actually had to move a dozen green giant arbs 10 feet away from the line.. where they actually got more sun.. and less tree root competition ... and started to thrive... i lost 3 or 4 years of growth ... this is akin to peeps planting right on the foundation .. rather than coming out 3 to 5 feet.. to give plants with more potential to thrive a bit better .. also keep in mind.. a few strategically placed trees .. planted between the problem.. and say.. your deck .. can make the problem disappear in the distance ... another alternative.. is to do both .... so if you fail further away ... you will probably succeed further from the problem ... a pic or two of the area.. might help us.. help you ... ken ps: attempting to get instant gratification.. by planting larger plants... often fails... as compared to smaller plants... as the larger go thru greater stresses in harvesting.. moving.. planting... and take a longer time to re-establish .. and a smaller plant.. might settle in.. and in 5 or 10 years.... might outgrow the the larger ...

Let me be _laag for a moment. Granted attention to long term development gets lost in a lot of landscaping. Still that arborvitae will have a good useful ten year life span on average I'd guess. No doubt someone will have to quibble that point, Anyway, as a landscape plant in a duplex of dubious particulars when its usefulness is over, you can rip it out tied to the back of a pickup truck and plant something new there. I'd venture that ten years is a pretty average life span for many suburban landscapes before the new homeowner does a remodel of the landscape. Ten years of low maintenance, good service from a plant is pretty good.