We like to ask clients about what their goals are when they talk to us about pruning. I usually recommend as little photosynthetic mass to be taken as possible. Leaves are the food factories of trees, and in the high desert climate we live in, trees need all the resources they can get. That being said, we have to balance the trees needs to be healthy while also managing the space around our homes. Insurance companies sometimes require minimum clearance distances to maintain a policy. The feature image of this post is a siberian elm volunteer. These volunteers can often start in strange and undesirable places and can cause damage to homes and structures.
While we were here, we also made some clearance from a mature green ash tree and some chokecherries that were in the front yard.
