Wow Andy, That leafless pic looks like the bigger, older brother to one on my back porch that I just trimmed and defoliated. I lost a branch inside this winter and needed to move a couple to fill the hole.
Pretty similar...right down to the "Clevage" in front
Not
TOO bad I guess for about 4 zones to the north of you!
It's about four years from a cut back on trunk to no branches. It was a real overgrown mess I brought back from Florida. It looked like a "fist" after I cut it back.
I decided to defoliate all my big WLF's this year except the biggest one. Soooo, I have 5 that look like that now!
Dale