One very dead Japanese Maple removed, possibly killed drought/winter stress/serious rot and hopefully not Verticillum Wilt*
Those leaves aren’t supposed to be a crispy brown.
But now what? The space has an entirely different feel to it, the beanpole locust in the background is suddenly prominent, as is the Sugar Maple. The paths, which bent at the tree, don’t quite make sense anymore and there is a whole lot more sun, and more distance. This will take some consideration.
*The state lab isn’t exactly helpful on the subject: ‘We can’t test dead wood’…well, the whole tree is dead, so what exactly can you test?
Acair Fearann 