Advice from Your Arborist: Plant Native Trees

Understanding what your plants need means having a yard that is both beautiful and easy to maintain.  We talked about how No Mow May results in a few extra hours for yourself and food for pollinators who will enrich our plants.  In this blog, we’ll talk about native trees.

You may be aware of the terms native and invasive when it comes to plants.  We all complain about weeds and how they can take over a garden but that’s not really the point here.  A weed is just any plant growing where we don’t want it to grow.  Even a blooming rosebush in the middle of a lawn is a weed because it doesn’t belong there.

An invasive plant is one that is brought into an area from somewhere else.  We find something pretty in a shop and bring it home.  The problem is, a lot of these plants don’t play nice with others and will take over in an aggressive way.  Bittersweet is pretty but can choke a tree as this vine climbs up a trunk and grows.  That kind of damage, and the associated tree service, is hard to reverse but can be avoided.

Learn the Benefits of Using Native Trees (Hint: Less Tree Service)

Native trees are those already at home in Connecticut.  They are comfortable with the weather patterns and have developed their own resistance to heat and cold, wind and water.  That makes them less fussy.

They don’t need special fertilizers and will generally save on water.  You don’t have to spend time and money making sure they have enough to drink because they like the amount of water that they expect to get in the Nutmeg state.  They also have figured out how to defend themselves from local bugs so you can skip the pesticides, which can be good for pets as well as your wallet.

Native trees are also good at controlling erosion below the soil and preserving biodiversity above it.  The birds and bees that we fed in May count on native trees to survive and we definitely benefit as we restore their habitats by offering shelter and food for wildlife and support pollinators.  (No bees = no pollination = no food.)

You may need to hire a professional tree service to prune a native tree but that work will be minimal compared to work you may need for a specimen that is struggling to survive in Connecticut’s climate.

Get Your Native Tree Advice from a Tree Service Professional

There are several native trees you can choose from: Red Maple, Black Birch, Eastern Hemlock, Sugar Maple, Northern Red Oak, Beech, Eastern White Pine, and Black Cherry.

Each can offer different ornamental value; a Sugar Maple in the autumn can present the most amazing shades of red and orange as the days grow shorter and the crisp air calls for a warm sweater.  As a setting sun provides a backlit atmosphere, you can be grateful for planting one near your home.

But, what to choose?  This is where an arborist comes in.  If you are lucky enough to be in the market for a new tree, pick the brain of your favorite tree service professional.  You can find the perfect tree for your needs: shade, privacy screening, decoration, even protection from the elements such as wind.  Someone experienced in tree service can teach you when each type of tree blooms so you’re always enjoying a beautiful show and feeding our winged friends, too!

Consultations are free and the advice from a tree service professional is priceless!

When a Difficult Take Down Is the Right Thing to Do For a Tree

It’s never easy for an arborist to cut a tree that appears to be healthy.  Our goal is to offer these amazing specimens everything they need to grow and thrive.

However, sometimes it’s just not possible to save a tree and, while it may seem unkind to cut that life short but cutting the tree down, it can be the wise thing to do.

Unhealthy Trees

A tree can appear to be healthy, with unblemished bark and lots of foliage or, in the case of a pine, deep green needles and lots of pinecones.  Like animals in the wild, a tree will hide illness as a form of protection.  In an earlier blog, we noted that a woodpecker had singled out what otherwise appeared to be a healthy pine tree.  The top of the 120-foot tree was thick with dark green needles and the bark was unblemished but for the holes that the woodpecker had made.

An initial diagnosis was that the woodpecker had gone after the tree for no good reason.  The homeowner was upset and began to think of ways to scare the bird off, such as plastic owls that might make the woodpecker believe there was a predator nearby.

The holes that the bird had made were four or more inches deep, mortally wounding the tree.  Given that this tall pine tree was only about 45 feet from the corner of the house, the homeowner was scared about when and how the tree would decide to fall when it finally succumbed to the bird damage.

A Challenging Take Down

Unless you’re cutting a sapling, you should always assume that cutting down a tree is going to be dangerous and difficult.  To address the situation, you need the right tools, experience, and a bit of intestinal fortitude.

We have a bucket truck and that was a great help as we limbed the tall pine tree to prepare it for the takedown.  Preparation is key as is coordination.  When an arborist is cutting so high off the ground, it’s vital that the people on the ground are not in the way of falling material.  They perform a critical job as they keep an eye on the bucket truck and the wind and other site factors, such as traffic if we’re working near the road.  Those trucks are sturdy but a good gust of wind or a speeding vehicle can turn a simple wobble into a deadly situation if you’re caught unawares with a chainsaw.

Rope is a simple tool but don’t underestimate it or assume we tie off the tree and hold on tight.  A pine tree can weigh as much as two or three tons and that’s not something you want to mess with, especially as you add momentum.

Silence Is All

People are surprised when there is no thud.  A good takedown will capture the falling portion of the tree close to the cut and allow us to gently lower it to the ground with ropes and pulleys.  There isn’t much drama there.  That’s the point.  Drama is not safe and we wouldn’t want to hurt people or damage property.

The only noises that should be heard are the machinery we use, including the chainsaw and the chipper.

A Good Outcome

At the end of the day, we want the tree down safely and either chipped or, if too large, hauled from the site.  We’ll be tired but that’s okay because it feels good to know we’ve done a good job.

We also find that nature can be a valuable ally.  The woodpecker had identified this particular tree as unwell long before any outward sign would have indicated.  When exposed, we saw the base of the tree was infested with carpenter ants, who had made significant progress in attacking the integrity of the trunk.  The tree would likely have broken from the bottom and, as it was already leaning toward the house, would have hit the house, causing severe damage if not personal injury.

The tree was a good one and the homeowner will miss it but is glad to avoid the weeks or months of home repair, insurance claims, and loss of whatever possessions that might have been crushed inside the home — assuming no one was hurt during the fall.

We’re sad to have removed the tree but happy to have given it a safe end to a long life, leaving a space for a new tree to be planted and loved.  We’ll be happy to help you, too, if you suspect anything is wrong with your trees, working our hardest to save what we can but to respectfully remove what we can’t save.