Tree Trimming: Winter Is The Time

One of the things that winter is good for is tree trimming. The reasons are somewhat obvious, but a couple bear stating: you can see what you're doing, and see the structure and shape of the tree in question quite well when there are no leaves to contend with. From a disease or plant health standpoint it's without question the best time of year for trimming. So winter is my time to trim my yard full of trees I've planted over the years, or inherited when I bought the place. On our three-acre lot I've planted literally hundreds of trees, most of them conifers (spruce, pine and firs), but mostly hardwoods in the yard adjacent to the house. And it's the hardwoods that need trimming the most; I rarely touch the conifers--they don't need it.

I'm not going to bore you with all the details on the how's of tree-trimming, there are other sites for that. Let me simply focus on a few why's, and see if I can convince you. If I do, you can visit those other sites and get the minutia on the how's. The why's are pretty simple, and can be summed up in one or two questions: #1 Do you want your tree(s) to look like crap, or to look good? (There's a sub-question wrapped up in that: do you know the difference?) #2 Do you want your trees to be healthy and live long?  Now I ask these questions assuming that you care about your trees; maybe you don't, and have already moved on and aren't even reading this. If so, ciao. But let's assume that you care, and have a regard for most things living, which extends to the tree kingdom. If so, read on.

If you have trees in your yard, and especially trees you've planted or had planted, and it's been a while since they've been trimmed, or perhaps they've never been trimmed, there's a 100% chance that they need it. Trees are like kids: without adult supervision they go to hell in a handbasket in pretty short order. Let me continue the analogy: the younger the tree, the more trouble they get into. As they grow and mature there comes a time when you can let go. You've done your job. And some trees need more attention than others (wow, this analogy refuses to die); maples, oaks and birch are particularily challenging. They tend to over-branch and develop structural defects. Sometimes years of inattention can be overcome and corrected, though it may take a succession of years to accomplish. I've seen young trees so misshapen and mal-formed that they're beyond redemption.

So, in the interest of time and space, and as a way to terminate the stubborn analogy, I will close with some before and after photos of a job we did last year (these have nothing to do with tree trimming, btw). It beats looking at misshapen trees. On my next post I'll beat this topic up a bit further.