Red, white, and bur oaks are some of our most-loved trees in Minnesota, and they face a mortal threat: oak wilt. Red oaks form the backbone of the red oak-sugar maple-basswood forests of the west metro. White and red oaks intermix through the Anoka sand plain and the southeast metro. Bur oaks line the uplands […]
Summer provides many challenges to trees, from heat and drought to attacks by other living things. Many things are beyond our control, but there’s a lot we can do to help our trees. Watering and providing good soil for a tree to grow in can help boost the tree’s natural defenses. Some issues, however, especially […]
Where and When May 21-22, 2022 Oak Hill Park / St. Louis Park 3201 Rhode Island Ave S, St Louis Park, MN 55426 Saturday, May 21 6:00 am – 7:30 pm – Competitor/Volunteer Check-in 7:30 am – Competitors prestage 8:00 am – 4:00 pm – Preliminary Events 5:30 pm – 9:00 pm – Awards Social, […]
Arborist, tree surgeon, arbolista, Baumpflegerin, arboriste; whatever the title, professionals in the arboriculture industry exist worldwide. Everywhere there are trees, people practice the broad field of arboriculture in some sense or another. What Is Arboriculture? Arboriculture is defined as “the cultivation, management, and study of individual trees, shrubs, vines, and other perennial woody plants.” The […]
Protecting the trunks of young trees is one of the most important things we can do to help with establishment after planting. It is essential in order to set a tree up for a long and successful life in the landscape. The question to ask is, how to protect your tree in winter? Winter subjects […]
When caring for trees, we often focus our efforts on what we can see: the canopy. Pruning is an important tool to manage trees, but ignoring what’s happening below ground is leaving out half the picture. Tree roots are the living, breathing, resource collecting first step in the process of photosynthesis. Ensuring they have everything […]
Winter in Minnesota provides many challenges for trees and shrubs. From extreme cold to dry winds and even the sun. Bright, sunny days can pose as much or even more risk to some plants. The main issues we see later in winter are sun scald and winter burn. Both of these issues are best treated […]
Here in the frozen North, we pride ourselves on our hardiness and ability to embrace the winter. Whether indoors or out, we have all developed adaptations that help us get through the cold and dark. Our native trees and shrubs are no different, having evolved over tens of thousands of years to survive in this […]
Ever since the agricultural revolution, humans have been pruning trees. While the tools and techniques have changed, the underlying purpose has remained the same: we’ve needed to tame nature. Pruning was originally used to increase orchard production and create sustainable sources of firewood but eventually expanded to include the landscape management we often think of […]
At one time or another, we’ve likely all been struck by an impressive sight- a tree that has stood the test of time. These trees come in many forms. They might be particularly large or appear old and wizened. Some may be relics of the time before settlers, some may be remnants of groves that […]
Make plans to plant trees this spring – they are needed now more than ever! The more than 100 million trees that died in California after being weakened by drought and insect infestations have transformed large swaths of the Sierra Nevada into browned-out tree cemeteries. In some areas more than 90 percent of trees are […]
The process of hiring our team to work on your trees is simple:
Winter is an excellent time to prune trees. After leaves fall branch structure is more obvious and pruning can be more effective. Although in some winters with heavy snow cover it's difficult to get a good clean-up job.
Many signals of branch health are apparent in the fall and winter months. Branches lacking any bark are the most obviously dead. Branches with loose bark can be dead or perhaps dying. Branches without the small twigs on the end can be dead, or the branch may be a live stub in which case it should probably be removed. Branches without buds on the ends of the twigs are dead. The least obvious sign of a dead branch is a branch with buds that are dead, dry or under developed. Dead buds on some tree varieties in the Midwest, such as locust, are even frustrating for experienced arborists to determine. To further complicate matters branches with leaves on in the winter (such as Norway Maples) can be newly dead.
