A Tale of Two Trees

This was a wonderful property we worked on out in Lexington County.

The project included cleaning out two plant beds and re-establishing their borders and then there was a variety of other tasks involving several trees and shrubs - heaven for me.

This little jewel to the left; well I still don't know what species of tree it is. But, I wasn't quite so concerned with such in regard to the task at hand - species was of no consequence.

This guy needed some serious attention and considering bloom or fruiting time (if any) would have been a moot point,

He's surrounded by some more mature and taller trees which want to steal his sunlight, and therefore his potential, but with this attention and some occasional pruning in the future, this guy will stand as tall and as proud as he can in his environment.

I raised the canopy and removed some death, perhaps some awkward branches, but overall, the interior structure is attractive when standing under the tree.

The other is one of my favorite (depending) shrubs, but almost always interesting in tree form - a loropetalum.

She had an attractive crown, but there was all kinds of madness going on in the interior and at the base of the trunk with suckers and water sprouts.

Also, there were several cross and diverted branches, but with some time and a combination of thinning and relieving cuts I was able to correct those issues without much reduction of the crown, which best allows a loropetalum to show off.

They truly can look like giant shrubs because of their unusually finer and smaller branch structure.

This is definitely a specimen, if not, a heirloom tree.

I originally had different plans for the canopy heights of these two trees (the first being behind the other) for different reasons, but I believe this worked out well.

The view you are seeing is from the customer's patio.

I always try to address the overall plant's health and aesthetics, but the customer's most common point-of-view must be considered.

I know these two trees are happier and I believe their owners and Barney are as well.