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Winter Pruning By Blaine Brende & Joe Lamb
Danville Today News ~ January 2014 - Page 17
Now is a great time to prune your trees to protect them against winter storms. A judicious pruning can reduce the likelihood of branches falling and causing damage to person or property. Evergreens, such as cedars, and many species of deciduous trees, such as valley oaks, can be pruned in the late fall and early winter, and now is by far the best time to prune pines. Monterey pines can only be pruned between October 1 and February 15 without attracting pine beetles. These potentially lethal beetles, which can smell sap from long distances, go dormant in the winter. Some species of beetles carry pine pitch canker, an increasingly common fungal disease that disfigures pine trees and sometimes kills them. If your tree has dead tips scattered throughout the canopy, it probably suffers from pine pitch canker. To prolong the aesthetic life of the diseased tree, prune out the infected tips when the beetles are dormant. Even healthy trees require occasional pruning to keep them safe and beautiful. Many trees are subject to branch and column failure. Thinning the crown reduces the wind-sail effect of the canopy and thereby reduces the risk of the tree failing in a windstorm. Removing weight from the ends of heavy branches reduces the likelihood that those branches will break. Pruning trees for safety is a craft requiring study and experience. A well-pruned tree should not only be safer, it should look beautiful. At Brende & Lamb we take great pride in both the science and the art of pruning. Each plant has a natural growth pattern. Our trimmers are expert at accentuating the shape given the plant by nature. Within the bounds of what is healthy for each species, Brende & Lamb works to Visitors welcome. make trees as beautiful as possible. Our trimmers are well practiced in aesthetic pruning and are attuned to the artistic flow inherent in tree forms. The form may be weeping, as with Willows and Chinese Elms. A 12-week comprehensive look at the Christian worldview. In some species, such as Monterey Cypress, branches ascend at acute angles to the trunk, giving the tree Gatetree Baptist Church • 101 Gatetree Drive, Danville Wednesdays, January 22 - April 9 @ 7PM an upswept look. Branches in the coast live oak bend and twist, forming complex arcs. Each tree species 925-820-9477 • www.gatetreechurch.com has a unique form and flow. When necessary, trees and shrubs can be reduced in size, but crown reduction requires a good eye; a poorly reduced tree looks like a thicket of stubs. Topping is almost always a bad idea. However, the crown of many trees can be reduced by cutting back long branches to the crotches formed by shorter branches growing in the same direction. If the branch doesn’t fork, we cut back to the lowest growth point that will neither create a thick stub nor undermine the arching quality of the branch. When a tree or shrub has been reduced in this way, it’s difficult to detect the cuts or tell that the branches have been shortened. Sometimes the form of trees needs to be modified to capture or accentuate views. View pruning requires restraint and a willingness to compromise. In view work, the beauty of the view and the beauty of the tree often seem to be in conflict. Many pruners focus solely on the view and simply hack back the tree. However, more than the tree’s beauty is at stake. Topping stimulates production of water sprouts, and it also causes disease and rot - all of which make the tree more, not less, dangerous. However, view problems can often be solved by looking at tree-and-view as an aesthetic unity, as two elements that complement and frame each other. Sometimes, lightly bringing the tree back without cutting into major branches can prevent further encroachment on the view. To recover even more of the view, we create “windows” by selectively removing branches not essential for the tree’s natural form. We can enlarge these by removing small branches that rise or drop into the view. Thinning above and below the window creates an overall feeling of openness, rather than an abrupt gaping hole. The image of Mount Diablo framed by the trembling convenient shuttle service to needles of a well-windowed Redwood proves that nature and civilization can home, the office, bart and bacK. complement each other - as can aesthetics and practicality. If your trees need a little TLC to protect them against winter winds, or if ` your property could use a little fire protection, please call 510-486-TREE FactoRy lubE, oil diaGnoSiS/ (8733) or email us at bl@brendelamb.com for a free estimate. Additionally, SchEdulEd & FiltER chEck EnGinE MaintEnancE liGht inSPEction go to our website www.brendelamb.com to see before and after pictures, Multi-Point Performance Let our trained experts perform an Improve mileage and extend Inspection initial inspection and diagnosis. We’ll client testimonials, and work in your neighborhood. Advertorial the life of your vehicle - follow Drain and Replace All Engine Oil
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11/16/12 9:28 AM
Inspired in Service: St. Isidore’s eight-grade class is always looking for ways to make a difference in our community. Students joined together with Safeway in Alamo to help fill grocery bags for the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano Counties. It was a huge success with over 370 bags filled to the rim.