The visibility of the faces that serve as "Instancers" for the duplication of the "Maple Leaf" at the tree branches can be turned off:
Instancer visible ("Viewport Material Shading Mode"):
Instancer invisible (box in the yellow frame unchecked):
Of course, it's no big deal from the far distance, but just in case that you plan to render a closer view of your hero tree.
@theluthier Oh 😂! I'm looking forward to finish your course 😀! It's a lot of fun and some users have already created different amazing scenes with that landscape style 👍!