Weeping Pear: can they be reduced in height?

I've written about the intricacies of managing a small Weeping Pear a few times, and today I had an interesting follow-up question:

"I planted a weeping pear 20 years ago in my London front garden.  It is now too big for me to reach the higher branches and I need to get a pro in to do it for me. I'm terrified of finding someone who doesn't know how to prune it this way, having seen some mushroom style pruning that I really don't want... any advice?"

This is a very real problem, and to illustrate it, here's a photo from my "Crimes Against Horticulture" folder, left.

This belongs to a lady for whom I work a few times a year: I turned up one day to do the autumn clearance of perennials, to find that her beautiful Weeping Pear had been slaughtered by "the bloke who cuts the grass".

Not a proper gardener, then.

He had, as you can see, pudding-bowled it.

The best you can say - with gritted teeth - is that it is at least neat and tidy, and it is smaller than it was. 

Personally I think it looks awful: some plants look good clipped into shape - Box, comes to mind. Or Yew.

But the whole point of a Weeping tree, whether it be Pear, or Willow, or anything else (you can get weeping Beech, and Ash, amongst others), is to enjoy the waterfall effect of the weeping foliage.

Not to run the hedgetrimmers over it and turn it into a mushroom.

How to avoid this sort of disaster? When you make an enquiry, with a gardener, or an arborist, ask them what tools they will use to do the job. If they say hedgetrimmer, put the phone down. In fact, if they say anything other than "hand tools and a ladder", put the phone down. 

When we (me and my arborist buddy) do Weeping Pears, we use no power tools at all: we use long-reach hand tools - "secateurs on a stick", as we sometimes say. One of us works from the ground, while the other one goes up the ladder, and that way we can ensure that we keep the tree balanced - there is a lot of conversation between us, of the "up a bit, left a bit, yes, that one," type.

The routine for these larger Weeping trees is exactly the same as in the article - first you get out the Three Ds - Dead, Diseased and Damaged.

This entails a lot of work inside the canopy: we put the ladder up very close to the trunk, and sometimes we actually climb up inside the tree, in order to get to the dead material, and there is usually a surprisingly large amount of it.  Often, the Client will ask us what we are doing, as they expect us to prune the outside first, and they wonder why we are taking so long to get going - until they notice the large pile of dead wood under the tree!

This is always an issue with "weeping" trees - the outside branches are leafy and healthy, because they get the sun, whereas the inner canopy dies off but, unlike a normal tree, these dead branches are hidden from view by the "umbrella" of the canopy. 

However, dead material is bad, because it rots, and the rot can spread to the healthy branches: also, dead branches tend to drop out of the tree at inopportune moments, so it's always best to get rid of all the dead stuff, from time to time. 

Having cleaned out the canopy, we then  start on the outside, having already looked at it from all sides, and agreed with the Client as to how much they want taken off. Usually it's a simple case of removing the upward-sprouting growth, to take it back to the height it was last year: and often we need to remove a couple of larger branches to return to a more balanced shape, if it has been growing more on one side than the other. Which is often the case.

When dealing with small ones, I like to keep the branches at least a foot clear of the ground, so that the foliage can swing in the breeze, rather than laying limply on the ground. 

With larger trees, I like to have the lower canopy sufficiently high for the owner to be able to mow underneath it without getting their eyes poked out.

You might be wondering what happened to the pudding-basin tree: well, here it is

 Three years later, it was just starting to regain the weeping form.

So you can see that it's not a total disaster, if you let someone loose with the hedgetrimmers: but it will take three years to grow back.

In fact, it was the following year before we felt that it was ready for some proper pruning: and it has been "properly" pruned every year since then, and it's now lush and shapely once more.

And, to get back to the original question, finding someone who will do it properly will mean asking a few direct questions, and stating categorically that you don't want it turned into topiary.

And the advanced answer is that, once you find that person, you can ask them if they think it is possible to lower the overall height of the tree. This will mean them selectively cutting out, carefully, some of the uppermost large branches. 

But be warned, because most Weeping Pear are grafted trees, they will have to leave a stub of the pruned branch, otherwise the new growth might not be weeping - if they cut into the graft area, they might prompt some dormant buds, from the non-weeping rootstock tree, into action. This means that it's better to cut to a point where there is a downward-growing branch.

Oh dear, so difficult to explain in words... let's try a simplified cartoon.

 Here's a very simplified weeping tree, and the red line shows the total overall height.

The highest point is on the branch to the left, so that's the one we want to reduce. 

We could cut it off just where it joins the trunk, couldn't we: the black line represents where to cut - approximately! (I'm not too good at this image manipulation lark...)

 But oh, that leaves it rather unbalanced.

Yes, it will regrow, but it will take a couple of years to fill in that gap.

Obviously, in real life, there will be more than one main branch, it won't be quite as stark as this, but you see the point - taking off a major limb can drastically change the shape of the tree, and can leave it unbalanced, which might lead to problems later on.

A better compromise, then, is to reduce that left-hand branch, rather than removing the whole thing:

Again, the black line is the approximate cut point - just above a good strong downward-growing branch.

The blue line shows that you have made a reduction in height overall, but if you look at the centre of the tree, you can see that the highest point is now that middle branch - so we have retained some of the left-hand branch, but have still gained the same reduction in height as if we had removed the entirety of the left-hand branch.

This is a much better way to do it: the tree is less unbalanced, we have lowered the height, but there isn't such a hole in the canopy on the left hand side.

 As a finishing touch, I would also remove just a little from the far right-hand side, to make a better overall shape.

And I'd adjust the lengths of a couple of the longer branches - again, just a little, enough to change it from being top-heavy on the right, to being slightly shorter on the right.

That's quite a long answer to a short question, but as you can see, when dealing with ornamental trees, it's not just a case of hacking off a couple of branches.

Well, not if you want to end up with something which looks like a real tree, not a poor butchered thing! 

Hopefully this has answered the question - a) ask lots of questions of any professionals you are considering calling in:  b) make it very plain to them, how you want it done, and how you absolutely do NOT want it done: and c) yes, the overall height can be reduced, in order to bring it back within your own reach, and you will then be able to prune it yourself for another few years.

 

 

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Codominant stems on trees: why they are bad. And good!

I came across this example of a co-dominant stem, while out walking the other day, and I thought I'd share it with you, partly because it's lovely in itself, and partly because it has a relevance to garden trees.

Here it is: 

... and hopefully you can see for yourselves what "co-dominant" means, even if you've never heard the word before.

Instead of the tree having one central stem, with branches growing out on all sides, it has two stems of very much the same size.

Usually, they grow side by side, and this is disastrous for the tree, because it causes a weak spot in the trunk, where the two stems originate.

Eventually, either one stem will break off, or the whole tree will split into two, which usually causes the death of the tree.

So if you plant new trees in your garden, you should always check, over the first few years, that they growing "properly", with one main trunk. And if you spot them deviating from this, you will need to prune out the lesser of the two stems, to allow the remaining stem to take over and become the "leader".

Unless it's a multi-stemmed Birch or similar, of course! 

In the case of the photo above, because it is a windswept position, the left hand stem was blown to the right of the - presumably - original main stem. Then, in a less windy phase, it grew back towards the sun, resulting in this interesting twining.

Such close contact has caused grafting, where the two stems "stick" together, so this particular tree will probably survive perfectly well: the grafted stem will be as thick, and nearly as strong, as if it had been just one proper trunk.

And the relevance to garden trees? If you have trees in your garden, don't let them start this game... unless you want to deliberately grow a tree with a decorative, twining stem. But be warned, it can take years before you see the result!

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How to: make good use of the cuttings from your Conifer hedge: yes, even Leylandii!

Next time you are clipping your Leylandii, or other Conifer, hedge, don't stuff your car with the waste, and make six trips to the dump: instead, push them through a shredder and use them as mulch.

"No!" you cry, "It will make poisonous acid mulch and will kill all my plants!"

Not true. Simply not true. Many years ago, I was asked the question, "Can I use Leylandii clippings to make the soil more acidic for my acid-loving plants?"  At that time, I didn't know the answer: so I did some research, and found that there were a lot of sites on the internet which stated that conifers poisoned the ground underneath them, because rain washed the "acid" off their foliage, thus making the soil beneath them very acidic.

This would seem to indicate that the clippings, ie the foliage, would be acidic and that using them as a mulch would indeed lower the pH of the soil, making it more acidic.

However, something struck me about all these websites: they all used the same words. The same phrases. The EXACT same wording. They were all, in fact, cutting and pasting from each other, which is a phenomenon which used to be called "plagiarising", back in the days when reading material was printed on paper: but which now seems to be perfectly acceptable - the users of the internet don't seem to see it, or recognise it. And even if they do, even if the original author finds it, there's nothing that can be done about it.

I have even encountered this myself: I've found articles on the internet which have been lifted word for word from articles which I have written: even articles here, on this blog, have found their way around the internet, with other people's names attached to them! And no, I don't even attempt to sue them - as I said, there is pretty much nothing "one" can do about having your content stolen: anyone who puts anything up on the internet has to accept that it can easily be stolen and re-used. 

I try to see it as flattery, although it's always vexing to think that someone else is making money from something which I create and put up here for free: with thanks to those of you lovely readers out there, who support me via Donations or via Patreon - thank you! Thank you!

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, researching acidic conifer foliage. I tried to find the original article, which I expected to be some sort of report, a scientific journal, perhaps? A learned dissertation in an obscure RHS publication? Nope, couldn't find anything.

That left me with the option to try it out for myself, so I roped in a co-operative Garden Owner, and did an experiment to see if the soil below various conifers was more acidic than the soil elsewhere in the garden, the theory being, as mentioned, that rain washes the acid off the leaves and into the soil below.

It turned out not to be the case.

Bizarrely, I did not write an article about it - or, at least, I can't find it... but the results were a resounding "no", and conifers do NOT drip, exude or spread acid around themselves. The soil below a variety of conifers turned out to be no more, or less, acidic, than the soil elsewhere in that garden.

So no, using Leylandii clippings will not make an acidic mulch which might be beneficial for acid-loving plants. 

But this also means that yes, Leylandii clippings CAN be used as a mulch!

Time for another experiment: last autumn, we clipped a long run of Leylandii and Lawson Cypress hedging, put all the cuttings through the chipper, then  - with permission from the owner, of course - spread them out as mulch along the bed on the other side of the drive. This bed contained mostly biggish shrubs, with a few Hellebores,  but was infested with ivy, and various small weeds.

 At first the chippings were green and fragrant, in a rather "car air freshener" sort of way. All was well.

Then, after a few weeks, they went black and looked, well, not very nice.

But a month later, I popped back to check up on them:

They had changed from yucky black to a more placid, regular dark grey in colour, and they were indeed smothering the weeds, rather successfully.

Not so much impact on the ivy... although it takes a long time for ivy to die, or show signs of distress, so there may be hope  yet.

I was back there again the following March, and I was delighted to see that the Hellebores were fine, as you can see: they were pushing their way up through the mulch with no difficulty at all.

And the various bulbs were doing likewise -  these are the Autumn Crocus (Colchicum autumnale, to give them their proper name) which were pushing up their leaves in spring, to make the energy to put up their strangely naked flowers, much later in the year.

You can see that, as suspected, the much had not had much effect on the ivy, which was starting to re-colonise the mulched areas.

But generally speaking, the mulch was a great success: minor weeds were smothered, bulbs were unaffected, shrubs were unaffected, Hellebores were unaffected.

We were back there again last month, re-clipping the same Leylandii and Lawson Cypress hedging, and the owner asked up to chip the clippings again, to top up the mulch, which is a sure indication that it was successful.

And there you have it: next time you clip your conifers, shove them through the shredder, and use them as mulch on your shrubberies!

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I hate my neighbour's overhanging trees: what can I do about it?

 I often get queries like this: there are many myths and myth-understandings about our rights, their rights, and the law, when it comes to neighbouring trees being a "nuisance" to us. So here is a quick FAQ with the answers to what I might call the Usual Questions.

DISCLAIMER: this is not a legal site! Do your own research! If you have any doubts, then consult your local Council: ask for the Parks department, or the Planning Department.

Before we start, this assumes that the tree in question does NOT have a Tree Preservation Order (TPO) on it, and that you do NOT live in a Conservation Area.  If it has, or you do, then you need to apply for Planning Permission before doing anything to any tree which has a trunk of more than 75mm (about 3") diameter, at about breast height. Yes, anything more than a sapling requires a Planning Application before you can prune it, shape it, neaten it, or reduce it. And you most certainly cannot fell it! 

You should already know if you live in a Conservation Area, but how do you find out if a tree has a TPO on it?

Answer: go to the internet, and find the map for your county: it's a gov.uk site, and should be something like “maps.[your county].gov.uk.  If in doubt, type “conservation areas [your county]” into a search engine. 

Look around the map, find your house, and look to see if it is within a Conservation Area - it will be shaded, if so - and whether it is or not, look to see if there are any TPOs to be seen.

Here's an example, taken at random:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pink-shaded area is a Conservation Area: this is Oxfordshire, other counties use different colours. ("Why? Why?")  The green blobs are trees covered by TPOs, and as you can see, they can be inside the Conservation Area, or outside it, or just on the border! They can be individual trees, they can be blocks of woodland, they can be strips of trees, like hedgerows with mature trees in them.

I have helpfully ringed them in black, but you may need to look closely at the map to spot them.

So, having established whether or not you are in a Conservation Area, and whether or not there is a TPO on the tree in question, here are some answers to some common questions:

Can I cut off overhanging branches? 

Yes, provided it is done without trespassing onto the other person’s property. It is also permissible to climb into the tree to undertake the work, again so long as it does not require going into the neighbour’s garden/land. Note that trees covered by a Tree Preservation Order (TPO) or in a Conservation Area will require prior consent from the local authority. 

Do I have to get permission from my neighbour or give them notice to cut off the overhanging branches? 

No. Your actions are classed as ‘abating a nuisance’ which does not require permission. Only in situations where you need access to their land to undertake the work would permission be required. Similarly prior consent from the local authority is required for trees with a TPO or in a Conservation Area. BUT it is always, ALWAYS, a good idea to engage the neighbour in dialogue before doing anything drastic. Yes, I know that people will say "it's easier to ask for forgiveness, that to be bothered to discuss it and get permission beforehand" and yes, I know that many people will be thinking "If I ask them, they might say no, so I'll just do it, then they won't be able to stop me" but this is short-sighted, and foolish: just take a moment to think of all the hundreds of ways that a neighbour could make your life a misery, if you angered them....

What do I do with the prunings?  

Once branches are cut off they should be offered back to the tree owner. If the owner doesn’t want them then you will be responsible for disposing of the prunings; you can’t simply throw them over the boundary into your neighbour’s garden!

Can I cut back further than the boundary to prevent regrowth causing a problem?

No.

What if my neighbour complains about how the tree looks after I have cut off the branches to the boundary? 

They do not have any legal recourse but in the interests of good neighbourly relations you might consider options for compromise, such as sharing the cost of a tree surgeon to create a balanced canopy.

Am I liable if I cause damage to a neighbour’s tree as a result?

Yes. In law you would be considered negligent. Sometimes branch removal can lead to tree failure due to disease, a change in the balance of the tree, or different wind loading that causes the tree to blow over. For these reasons it is important to employ a competent tree surgeon or arboriculturist who could minimise risk and would take on the liability for the work (check they have public liability insurance prior to engagement of services).

Fruit

Can I pick and keep the fruit from overhanging branches?

No, not without permission from the owner. I know, weird, huh? We all think that we are allowed to pick it, if it's over our garden, but technically, legally, no we are not!

Can I collect windfalls from a neighbour’s tree that overhangs my garden?

No, not without their permission. Windfall fruit still belongs to the owner. Which is even more weird: I mean, how would they stop you?

Fruit fallen from fruiting trees in a public space, or on common land, is in most cases OK to forage. If in doubt, check to see who owns the land and seek permission first.

What about liability for poisonous fruit, seeds or leaves?

The tree (or hedge) owner will be liable for damage caused by fruit, seeds or foliage but only if it overhangs the boundary.

Leaves

Can I tell my neighbour to come over and sweep up the leaves from their overhanging tree?

No. *laughs hysterically at the mere thought*  Mind you, I say that, but I do actually know of an incident where a neighbour complains, every year, about fallen leaves, and has asked the tree owner to clear them up. "No chance!" is the answer to this one, "You should not have bought a house with big trees all around it, if you did not want to deal with leaves on your astroturf..."

The owner of a tree is not obliged to clear up fallen leaves. The exception is if damage occurs as a result (e.g. blocked drains) in which case it is advisable to notify the tree owner in a letter.

Roots

Can I cut off roots growing into my property?

Yes. You have the same rights (and liabilities) as for cutting off branches. And prior consent from the local authority is required if the tree has a TPO or is within a Conservation Area.

What if the tree falls over after I cut the roots?

As well as rights, you have the same liabilities as for cutting off branches. So for example, if by reason of cutting through your neighbour's tree roots, the tree is weakened and falls over, you would be liable for any damage it causes. Thus it is important to exercise reasonable care before cutting any tree roots and seek professional advice for anything but the most minor work.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that "it is important to exercise reasonable care before cutting any tree roots and seek professional advice for anything but the most minor work" is just about of equal importance to "always TALK to your neighbours, before things reach the point where you are angry about it."

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When is a tree not a tree? When it's covered with Ivy...

Once upon a time there was a tree.

It lived and grew, in a pleasant back garden, and no-one minded that it was only eight or nine feet away from what we all still call a "telegraph pole". even though we no longer have telegraphs.  The Utility Pole - that's the correct name for them, now - in question supports the power lines to the house. So it's quite important.

Being out of sight behind the shed, Ivy also grew in that area.

"Hey, that's a nice tree," said the Ivy (not out loud, obviously), "I think I'll climb up there and see if I can take over the neighbourhood."

So the Ivy climbed the tree.

The houseowners, not realising what a problem this would become, let it grow. 

From time to time, they made half-hearted attempts to pull down the Ivy, but they never did more than superficial damage, and over a period of time, the Ivy made it right up to the top of the tree.

"Heh, heh," smirked the Ivy (again, not out loud, obviously), "I've made it to the top! Excellent, now I shall spread my limbs out in all directions, in case there is anything else nearby which I can climb."

The Ivy was also smothering the tree, but didn't particularly care, because a) Ivy has no concept of time, or the future consequences of its actions:  and b) it is the spawn of the devil, and doesn't care about any other plants, anyway.

Eventually the householders realised that the tree was getting perilously close to their power lines, and if the tree were to damage those power lines, it might affect their enjoyment of the many electrical gadgets with which they had filled their home.

So they called in the trusty Garden Team, that's me and my Arborist, and asked us to take the ivy off the upper parts of the tree, and to trim back the branches which were nearly touching the power lines.

After informing the electricity company, and gaining permission to work (this is all legal stuff, don't worry about it), we set to work on the tree, and found out that in fact there was barely any tree left, under all the ivy, and that in fact the many "branches" which were threatening the power lines were - in fact! - ivy branches.

Yes, ivy can achieve significant thickness of stem - remember the Gigantic Ivy which I shared with you, earlier this year?

Ivy stems can lean out, mid-air and unsupported, for easily six to eight feet, and that's what had happened at the top of this tree.

So it was actually the ivy threatening to eat the power lines, not the tree!

Either way, it had to go, so we cut off the ivy, and contemplated what was left of the tree (which is a story for another day).

As the tree was in a fairly sorry state, we reduced it in height, and here is one of the "slices" off the top of the tree:

You can just see the tip of my boot, at the bottom of the photo, for scale.

Gosh, just look at all those closely-packed stems.

Hang on a minute: those are not all tree stems, are they?

Some of the are ..... IVY!!

Closer inspection revealed that only three of these cut stems are actual tree material:

 

Just those three with the arrows pointing to them.

All the rest were ivy stems.

How incredible is that?!

Almost the entire top of the tree was ivy!

So, folks, don't ever let ivy sneak up your garden trees: you may think it is harmless, but it's an evil plant which is planning to EAT your trees, smother them, and eventually kill them!

 

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