Tree Trimming

I’ve just spent most of the day watching a guy from a tree service pruning trees at the condo building across our back alley.  This is what I did yesterday day too. They have been over there working like, well, beavers, tidying up the foliage on the property for the upcoming season.  I am dearly hoping that today will finish up the job because my life is passing me by while I sit with my cup of tea staring at them through my den window.  Without blinking.  I am fascinated. 

However, I’m sure they haven’t noticed me gawping at them, because they exhibit razor sharp focus and are aware of only their immediate surroundings as they spiderman themselves from branch to branch, reaching out to chainsaw a couple twigs off here and then swing over to lop off a branch over there.  How they figure out which ones to cut is a mystery to the likes of me, but I suspect that’s why no one has ever thrust a chainsaw into my hands along with a cheque for lots of money.  While I am not a fan of the chipper they’ve brought along, at least the periodic mulching of the offcuts gives me the opening to run and put the kettle on or to make a trip to the washroom. 

I Googled the whole process as I’ve been whiling away the hours watching this show unfolding across the alley, and I’ve discovered that tree trimming is both a science and an art. 

The tree’s life force follows a certain circuit, working its way through its height and breadth. Knowledge of tree biology is vital for a tree to be trimmed in such a way as to relieve it of the extraneous bits needlessly sapping its energy, while also increasing its overall health.  If you suspect that you aren’t clear about how all of that works, the best idea is to call a tree service and get a professional to do it for you.  Taking a somewhat sharp saw to cut just any old branch could result in a disfiguring (of you or the tree) and can even kill the tree.  A reputable tree service will safely have the trees on your property in good shape in quick order. 

And that’s all positive and practical information, but I’m more captivated by the artistic hands-on side of things. 

First of all, I want to put forth Tree Trimming as an Olympic event.  The way the pros trim a tree shows impressive use of core strength and flexibility.  The chainsaws used in professional tree trimming can weigh anywhere between 9-13 pounds.  Try manipulating that sort of weight at the end of your arm while you’re leaning or reaching way over, anchored to the tree only by a rope tied to your safety belt, with your feet wedged into impossible locations at impossible angles.  All the while getting sawdust in your face.  This job is not for the feint of heart. 

After hustling up a tree, the guys across the back alley size up the branches surrounding them, with a steely gaze.  They tie themselves to the very same tree they are cutting into and then pirouette and scramble and leap from branch to branch, critically surveying the work as they do it to determine how it fits into their dance through the tree.   

Anyone who is familiar with trimming anything—hair, Christmas trees, multi-layered cakes—will no doubt agree that one needs to respect the basic structure of the object being trimmed so as not to undercut its structure, like a poorly played game of Jenga.  One also needs to have an eye for esthetics in order to sculpt the object into a thing of beauty.  Too much in one spot or too delicate a touch in another might leave you with a hack job and some drastic patchwork ahead of you. 

Tree trimmers have to be able to visualize the shape that will make the most of the tree’s natural strengths and growing habits, while cutting away the dross that impedes that outcome.  And they have to keep it looking pretty in the meantime.  This must be the process that a sculptor goes through.  A sculptor who has been tied to a tree and is carrying out their decisions with a chainsaw. 

Watching the downed limbs being collected and fed into the chipper is an unsettling sight for someone with a gentle and tender-hearted propensity (such as myself) to witness, but without culling there might well be limited growth and unreached potential for the tree, so that justifies things a bit.  Mind you, the noise of the chipper gives that machine a menacing yowl that does nothing to dispel the whole tree-killing suspicion.  Tree servicing companies who drag a chipper to each job are able to efficiently finish their day’s efforts, which beats that pile of twigs and small branches that seems to pile up behind everyone’s garage and/or garden shed.  ‘Done’ for these guys, is actually done.  That’s another reason to bring in a pro to do the job every 5-10 years.  Go and take a quick look behind your shed and tell me I’m wrong.

Besides all that, the show that a professional tree trimming company puts on for the neighbours, as they skillfully go about the job at hand, is mesmerizing!  After two days of watching the crew across the alley do their work confidently and with great efficiency, I’ve gained a certain sense of Zen that only comes from watching others perform specialized work for hours on end.  My neck is a bit stiff, and I need to put in some eyedrops, but I feel very satisfied and the entertainment value has been well worth it!