Pruning the Big Trees in the Front Yard

There is something so therapeutic about pruning – I really love to get in there with a pruning saw or loppers and just go to work on a tree or bush. We have some decorative trees in our front yard that are quite old and tend to overgrow their spaces if they aren’t pruned occasionally. The worst culprits are a Japanese maple and a magnolia tree (although my husband would say the oak is the worst, I saved that one for another day). They shade the yard with such dense shade that nothing much grows beneath them and their limbs drape all over the roof which looks so messy.

These are not the best photos, but I was eager to get pruning and didn’t want to wait until the light was right to take the before picture (on the left) and I took the after picture (on the right) just after I finished so at least the light would be the same for both shots. Note the motor home peeking through in the after shot, but at least the roof-line is visible now!

I cut them both back to neaten them up, although I don’t have a tall lopper or a ladder high enough to get to the upper branches. The only downside to my pruning party is that it ended up exposing the neighbors’ motor home, which has seen better days, honestly. The only downside to pruning is the enormous pile of branches we’ve now got to dispose of . . .