Boston Tree and Stump

08/28/2024

Inadvertently strangled tree:-(

10/20/2021

Kinda creative fence work. But the tree ended up coming down anyway. 🤷‍♂️

03/23/2021

Old leaves left on trees over winter?

Not a good sign, that means the tree is either dead or dying. Take this time to assess the tree's health, prune dead branches, fertilize with good natural soil amendments and see what spring holds - otherwise it's time to chop it down.

01/04/2021

Big favor you can do for your shrubs this winter is brush them off after each storm. The weight can often break branches and cause deformities from stretching under the weight of the snow.

Best preventative late fall is to actually wrap your shrubs in burlap or other breathable fabric to avoid stretching and breaking - but not always doable on odd shapes or long shrubs.

Next storm spend a few extra minutes with a broom (not a shovel!) brushing the snow from your shrubs and they will thank you this spring.

10/14/2020

Dead + decay = dangerous tree

Took this one down today, way past it’s prime and dangerous to fall onto nearby house or the busy side road. Now is the time to address dangerous trees and large branches before winter and too late.

09/21/2020

Call this weekend for some shrub removal and this is what I pulled out. I asked the client who planted it and she did...by direction of the nursery she left the burlap wrap on the root ball. Look what happened, roots didn’t grow and the whole plant died. The green on the burlap is mildew. Always check advice given...because this was a silly recommendation. Over a year do she can’t get her money back.

08/23/2020

Not every shrub grows at the same rate, hence some size discrepancy here. Overall healthy and maintained. Told the client we need to focus on feeding and watering the smaller ones now while we have some growing time left. If we’re lucky we’ll get growth and then we can trim the larger one to match the size.

08/02/2020

Tree falls in the forest does it make a sound?

Well in this case multiple trees fell but never hit the ground. These trees are just over the client's property line on town conservation land. He wants them cleaned up because it doesn't look good. (and I agree!) But conservation land is protected and needs a blessing from officials to do anything, so please contact your town before doing anything like this. It seems like a harmless task and could be beneficial but the fine isn't worth it. Some towns are more aggressive than others.

08/01/2020

Not the ideal weather to transplant a tree but the client wanted it saved. Make sure you dig the new hole first, wet it down, add some loose soil then dig the tree out carefully and bring it over. Burlap is to retain moisture for the time being and also discourage the dog from digging haha. Following all those steps gives the tree the best chance of survival because there’s no guarantee even in ideal weather conditions.

07/20/2020

Most common shrub in the US?

Never seen an official poll but ask any landscaper and they'll probably say the Yew. Yes you read that right...nobody knows the name but knows the shrub. It's a needle bearing evergreen...in the conifer family. It's common because it grows well here, pretty easy to maintain and very trainable. Not as in training a pet but the often forgotten part about pruning is training. We prune shrubs and trees to train them to grow a certain way (boxy, round, small, etc) and train them to be healthy

Yew bushes (Taxus genus) are good for foundation plantings or hedges. There are many cultivars of yews and they can be quite versatile.

07/18/2020

So many clients ask me about the higher than normal chipmunk population this year. I didn't find too much online but some reports are that last years acorn production was stronger than normal - hence more food for them to last the winter and more breeding this year.

Clients also ask for any secret remedy's to keep them out but I don't have too many great one besides limit bird feeders (or at least not close to the house), make sure acorns are raked up asap this fall, and plug holes with rocks. (no poison please)