Can’t see the trees for the trees

Where we live in California, we have three seasons: winter, spring, and fire. If you pay any attention to current events you’ll know that fire season is a real thing here–a couple years ago large sections of the state burned and it wasn’t just grass. Homes and businesses were lost. We’ve had two grass fires since moving here–one was quite far away, but the second in September 2018 was very close, like 500 feet away from the south edge of the property.

Since then, Pacific Gas & Electric (the utility company that manages power transmission lines around most of the state) has become more vigilant about proactive maintenance. The problem is a lot of their tree service workers don’t always take care of the trees they are brought in to “tidy.” This is why we have our own tree service come in every fall to take care of things here.

The first year, we tried a company that apparently is no longer in business. They tidied the big gum tree and also spent a full week cleaning out the old trash pile. They were back a second time to do some other work, but their equipment kept failing and I just wasn’t very happy with the results.

For the last three years we’ve used California Tree Solutions, and since we keep using them, we’re obviously very happy with their work. In 2018 they came out and did a few trees nearby, the huge gum tree at the easement our neighbors use, and the line of gum trees from the start of the driveway halfway up to the well tank (first three pics below). The contractor from PG&E who came out wanted these two trees in particular dealt with, so they were (last three pics).

CTS came back in fall 2019 and finished the line of trees up the well tank, including cutting a couple down. They also gave the giant gum a haircut, much to the chagrin of our tree squirrels who had to move house to the walnut trees for the winter.

It was easier and cheaper to just have the felled trees cut into logs and left up near the well tank. After the winter rains, Agent Smith and I headed up there with the excavator and Dumpy and transported them to the wood pile behind the stables.

One side note to this whole story–the mulberry trees. There are five here, and in the past, they were pollarded each autumn by the gardeners who had taken care of the property for the POs and we had continued to utilize. (We have to continue the pollarding cycle that the POs started, else the trees will become crazy out of control.) Until summer 2018 I’d been pretty happy with their work, but it was becoming more and more difficult to reach the business owner to address one-off issues like busted sprinkler heads or removing dead bits of a shrub. Then in late 2018, the owner was involved in a fatal hit-and-run incident, and after I saw his mugshot in the news and didn’t hear from him for a couple of weeks, I found another gardener (the awesome one who can rope goats).

As a result, the tree guys take care of the mulberries. They have handled them two years in a row now, and since we already need them here each year for a handful of other things, it just makes sense.