Q.: My Japanese maple is about 20 years old now. The trunk is divided and I have thought of securing the two trunks together with something because of the extra weight of snow and ice in the winter.

Continued growth pushes bark outward, causing outer layers to crack. On some trees, the dead layers peel and drop off. Shedding bark is characteristic of sycamore, redbud, silver maple, shagbark ...