Since I'm talking about trees (ie in the previous post) I thought I'd give you an update on one of the star attractions of my garden.
About 18 months ago I took a big deep breath and allowed a tree care person do a major prune on my beautiful Liquidambar.
I love my huge big tree. Yes it drops leaves by the ton each autumn/winter and they clog up the driveway and the drains. But I vac' it up and use it as mulch or put it in the composter so they're put to good use.
But my tree worried me. It is big, bigger than my house, which is a two storey house, so it is a pretty big tree. What if it were to fall on my house and break my house. That would not make me a happy chappy. In the pics of the tree bare (or naked, as I prefer to call it!) you can see where it had been pruned sometime in the past, well before I bought this house. So I knew it had been done before, but I didn't know how long prior - at least more than the 10 years I had been here.
So, when I had the funds ('cos I knew it wouldn't be cheap) I called the tree man in and let him loose on my baby. I was rather concerned that such a heavy pruning might damage the tree irretrievably. There was a small part of me that was worried the tree might die :(
I felt so guilty when I got home from work that day and saw my baby all stumpy and cut off :(, it looked pretty ugly, but I knew it had needed to be done. I think they call that tough love!
The next season the tree took much longer to come into leaf, but when it did the canopy was very thick and lush :)
This year the tree was glorious. It's not as high as it used to be, true, but it's still a very large beautiful tree.
The end result is a much happier tree and a happier me.
I don't have a current pic of the tree - I'll take one on the weekend.
If you have a large tree I strongly recommend you have a professional person prune it for you. Mine took a cherry picker, three men and most of a day. Yes, it was expensive but well worth it, I was not about to entertain the idea of me climbing up the tree with a chainsaw going!
Tomorrow's Friday YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4 comments:
Hello Naola! nice to know you. I had the same problem for my tree infront of my house. It needed a cherry picker for the man to trim the branches. But now the tree looks like it was struck by lightning. First the leaves shed and now the trunks and branches turn black. I think I need to chop the tree :-(. Have a great weekend!
I wish the Board members of my condos had read this post. Instead, they cut down some of the largest trees because the leaves were falling on people's patios. Well, the trees were there 1st! I did start a yellow ribbon campaign where a group of us tied yellow ribbons around the trees letting them know how unhappy we were.
I love trees, grandeur and beauty. Pity that the wrong tree is planted too near houses and have to be pruned back. I adore Pert!
Thank you for this lovely tour around your garden- enjoyed it so much!.
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