Remember our little front yard tree that I put in Fall '18?
She grew like aweed *apology: gorgeously adapted native plant* and went from 2 feet to about 7 feet in a year. Wow.
So I bought a pair of loppers - Corona, by ACE Hardware - and a can of sealant paint. It took about an hour to trim the tree, and I really tried to not go crazy and focus on just a few ideas: 1) Lifting the skirt (or lower branches) just enough to be able to, theoretically, place some Christmas presents underneath. I want this tree to look more like a tree than a bush. 2) Thinning out the top branches so that there is less damage from rubbing and more room for wind to pass through, making the tree more resilient. 3) Leaving downward arching branches to provide shade from the Summer sun. 4) Taking out branches that stuck up weirdly high or out into the walking path. So, lots of thinking before I went to town on this poor guy.
Before (Left)
She grew like a
So I bought a pair of loppers - Corona, by ACE Hardware - and a can of sealant paint. It took about an hour to trim the tree, and I really tried to not go crazy and focus on just a few ideas: 1) Lifting the skirt (or lower branches) just enough to be able to, theoretically, place some Christmas presents underneath. I want this tree to look more like a tree than a bush. 2) Thinning out the top branches so that there is less damage from rubbing and more room for wind to pass through, making the tree more resilient. 3) Leaving downward arching branches to provide shade from the Summer sun. 4) Taking out branches that stuck up weirdly high or out into the walking path. So, lots of thinking before I went to town on this poor guy.
After (Right)
It's a little tricky to see a difference, even side-by-side, partially because the light got so shadowy. However, you can really see the top looks a lot thinner and the overall shape of tree was preserved (The scarecrows at the back fence are a lot more visible as well). No lollipop trees in the desert!
These were my tools (although the picture translated from my iphone, oddly, upside down).
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