This Acer stands 35 cm tall and is still very much in training. This photo was taken in May 2013 and it shows the tree in full Autumn splendor.

Soon after this photo was taken the tree lost the last of its leaves and the branch structure can clearly be seen here.

The branch on the right is too straight, but the tree does need a bit of width. The smaller branch above it still needs to grow to fill that gap. The three branches going almost straight up is also disturbing on the eye. What cannot be seen here is that the tree has very few back branches which means very little depth.

Skip seven months and this photo is from the other side. A back branch has now been pulled down by the guy wire and the second branch on the left (previous photo right) is filling in nicely.

This photo was taken in December 2014.

There is now more width to the tree, but the vertical branches making up the apex have not been sorted yet. That is the next phase of development, a repot come spring and that will be in a smaller, more appropriate pot.