[starfighter53]

Haha! My first post to the forum. Anyway, I have about fifteen Japanese maples and will add more again this year. (Been gardening almost as long as I have been keeping fish, and I've had fish for fifty years!) The Japanese have been pruning these trees forever, and you have to deal with allowing the tree to assume its natural height and width to maximize the beauty of its form. Anyway, not very exciting viewing, but it looks like Plant Amnesty has a lot of good Japanese pruning videos, and with maples, you need to decide which style of pruning you prefer. Give the plant some time to "speak to you" and you will see which stems to leave alone.

Here's a video link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vETbhB_6Gs

There are other videos suggested as viewing which may be more the "style" you are looking for. That looks like it will be a good sized maple! Enjoy it, they can have very subtle beauty, like contrasting bark or keys. Fall colour is exceptional! My first (Bloodgood) is now well past my second story window and just gets better every year.

 

[starfighter53]

What climatic zone are you in? It almost looks like baby's tears which is not hardy here at all. (I'm in Canada). Can you get a closer shot of the ground cover? If it will grow in Zone 6 I can likely ID it, but it looks finer leafed than anything we see here.

Ignore what I said, it is likely thyme, Genus Thymus. Perhaps T. vulgaris, or one of the multiple cultivars. There are many nice ones, and they all smell like thyme (I have one called "Doone Valley that has varied leaf colour like that one pictured). They tolerate foot traffic well too, and there is a cute wooly one. Mint family member, and they are all happy to root wherever they touch the ground. Generally purple flowers, but some cultivars are white - or pink - flowered.