Fine Pruning
Where art meets science​
Some specimens warrant extroardinary and ongoing attention to bring out their essential character. We have trained in aesthetic and Japanese pruning techniques to manifest the extraordinary.
Fine pruning is an art. It is living sculpture. It is the practice of seeing and fostering of the essence of a tree. The Maple below is marked by the incredible movement of its branches and the delicacy of its foliage. Pruning something like this, we would make scores of very fine cuts at the tips, encouraging new growth to meander. We'd look for opportunities to remove growth that feels too linear and we'd look to create little gaps in the canopy so that from afar there are windows to the interior, allowing the great structural form to be seen year round.​
Photo by Tom Schwabel
Pruning large trees may seem like a more complicated and higher stakes operation, but it's incredibly easy to make irrevocable choices about smaller specimens that wreck the form. Excellent fine pruning leaves specimens looking simultaneously untouched and also the best version of themselves. The practice takes years of experience and training.