Tree trimming update: There's always collateral damage

The tree service I've used for ten years arrived on schedule at 8am last Thursday morning.  I walked through the garden with the arborist who owns the business and the crew's leader, reviewing what needed to be done.  (The arborist and I'd identified the work required weeks before on a prior walk-through to prepare an estimate.)  The crew of six promptly got to work.  In contrast to most of the tree services that do work nearby, they don't rely on power tools nearly as much so the job is much quieter overall.  They finished the job after 5pm.

I'm happy with the tree work.  Here are the before and after shots:

These are before and after shots of the largest peppermint willow (Agonis flexuosa) on the southeast corner of the back garden.  I think I've had it trimmed only once before.  The foliage had grown thick over the years, especially after this year's heavy rains, and it was shading much of that end of the garden.

These are before and after photos of the peppermint willow on the northwest end of the garden

There are 2 more peppermint willows sited just behind the hedge that lines the street.  Their curtain of foliage shades the garden behind the hedge.  Portions of the trees had branches that had died back, as shown in the before photo on the left.

These shots, taken from an area near the house, show the same 2 trees from the inner side of the hedge

I get the 4 strawberry trees (Arbutus 'Marina') trimmed every year.  These are before and after shots of the 2 trees on the north end of the back garden.

The Arbutus foliage was especially dense after this year's heavy rainfall.  These photos provide a closer look at the tallest Arbutus on the north end of the back garden.

And these offer a before and after comparison of the smaller Arbutus in the back garden

This is a before and after comparison of the Arbutus on the north end of the front garden.  There's an issue here we'll come back to at the end of this post.

These are before and after shots of the large Arbutus on the south end of the front garden.  It sits atop a moderate slope that drops 5-6 feet on the back side of the tree.  This shot was taken from a walkway that bisects the front garden.

These are shots of the same tree taken from the south side of the garden looking west

The Hong Kong orchid tree (Bauhinia x blakeana) got a light touch to remove the bare twiggy stems you can see in the before shot on the left

The crew tackled the thorn-covered twiggy stems in the interior of the 3 citrus trees (Mandarin orange, navel orange and lime) along the fence in the cutting garden.  It's hard to see the difference in the before and after shots as I didn't take closeups but the dead stuff was removed without sacrificing our beloved navel oranges, which usually ripen in January.

Several dead branches from the Magnolia grandiflora in the front garden were removed.  The light in the after shot on the right was weird because I took it during last week's solar eclipse, which was only partially visible here.

These are before and after shots of the cherry laurel (Prunus ilicifolia) hedge that sits along the property line.  It's a delicate trimming job because it's close to our lath (shade) house. 

Last but not least, here are the before and after shots of the ornamental pear tree (Pyrus calleyana).  In retrospect, I should've had the crew cut more off some of the lower branches but I'll see if my husband will take care of them for me.

 

There was the expected collateral damage, annoying but easily repairable.

The small succulents, especially Crassula radicans 'Large Red', looked worse for the wear after the crew cleaned up the heavy foliage cut from the Arbutus above.  As I continued to remove leaf debris, matters only got worse so I pulled the plants and took cuttings - a lot of cuttings (as shown on the right).  I'll replant them and probably other plants there but for now I've just cleared away the mess.

I also removed a lot of the overgrown peppermint geranium (Pelargonium tomentosum), some of which had been trampled in the cleanup process.  There's more trampled peppermint geranium and Arthropodium cirratum (middle photo) to be tidied up.  I'm taking cuttings of the Pelargoniums and trusting that the Arthropodium (Renga lilies) will recover in time.  The Pacific Coast Iris (left) in the back garden also suffered foot traffic but I plan to remove much of the rampant ivy and divide the Iris anyway.

 

Unfortunately, there was more significant damage in another area, where I'd previously had no problems worthy of note.

Going back to the north end of the front garden, here's another photo of the before and after of the Agonis and the Arbutus in that corner, taken from inside the hedge.  Do you notice the difference between the Agave attenuata situated between the trees in the 2 photos?

Here are before and after photos of the large clump of Agave attenuata (foxtail agave) that came with the garden.  This clump has been the source of a dozen or more pups I've planted elsewhere in the garden over the years.

A closer look at the foliage makes the degree of damage clearer.  Only the Agave attenuata and and Agave colorata (right) were affected.  In prior years, the tree crew put a planks of plywood on top of saw horses to provide cover for the succulents while they pruned the tree above.  My guess is that they used a tarp instead because the Agave attenuata were too tall for the old method to work.  The tarp was sitting next to the bed when I walked by the first time.  The damage was already clear.

At first glance, I thought the Agave attenuata had experienced sunburn but it was hard to believe that so much damage could occur in such a short time.  Yes, the succulents are now getting more sun but the change wasn't dramatic enough to account for damage that severe.  Moreover, only the agaves were affected.  When I looked at it again, I remembered an old blog post by Loree Bohl of Danger Garden that described very similar damage.  I couldn't remember the label pinned to the cause but I posted photos on Instagram hoping for input.  I also conducted an online search and found Loree's 2016 post describing "agave edema," which you can find here.  At about the same time, Loree commented on my Instagram post, affirming that her agaves and mine had suffered from the same problem.  I found Loree's original 2010 post later.  While there's some question about using the term "agave edema" to describe the phenomenon, the description Loree provided in that post seems to be spot on:

Edema occurs when the roots of the plant are absorbing moisture from the soil but the leaves stomata are closed (due to the weather conditions and the plant being covered reducing photosynthesis) and the plant is unable to transpire at the normal rate.

With my husband's help, we removed the 6 largest and most damaged Agave attenuata rosettes in the original clump.  I took out 2 more rosettes that I'd planted as pups from the same clump several years ago, as well as the Agave colorata that had already been slated for removal.  A couple of the pups that had grown up under the larger rosettes show nominal damage but I can live with that as the blisters aren't glaring.

Lesson learned - the hard way.  I don't blame the tree service.  I doubt they've had experience with this particular problem.  I made the mistake of assuming all would be well as their prior efforts to protect my succulents had been successful.  I didn't realize that they'd modified their approach, in all probability to deal with the fact that the clump of Agave attentuata on the north end of the garden had grown so tall.  Luckily, the agaves on the southwest slope of the garden weren't covered by tarps and there was no damage there.  Luckier still, I already had a number of good-sized pups in place on the north end of the garden.  I'll definitely add my concerns about how the agaves are protected when discussing future tree trimming sessions.

All material © 2012-2023 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party