Tree and Horticultural Management Services
ATTENTION: 7/14/2024
After much consideration, I've decided to return
out west. My talents and professional abilities
are greatly needed there. I'm currently in the
Pacific Northwest (Northern California and
Washington) inspecting trees and/or managing a
team of arborist performing tree risk
assessments. My passion for arboriculture and
helping clients with tree problems hasn't
changed. I will simply be performing tree
consultations and tree health care services on
a part-time basis as I periodically fly back to Alabama every few
months.
If your tree problem can wait, read this website
and fill out the contact form below. Christina will email you to discuss my availability and approximate tree consultation date.
If your tree problem cannot wait, I understand entirely. Go to the ISA website at www.isa-arbor.com and search for:
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Okay Starting Point - Tree Risk Assessment Qualified (TRAQ)
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Good - ISA Certified Arborist
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Better - ISA Certified Arborist who is Tree Risk Assessment Qualified (TRAQ)
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Best - ISA Board Certified Master Arborist who is Tree Risk Assessment Qualified OR ISA Board Certified Master Arborist who is a Registered Consulting Arborist (RCA). Registered Consulting Arborists can be found at www.asca-consultants.org
Remember, this is extremely important if you value your tree(s).
Largest Ponderosa Pine I've ever seen. Tree near the California - Oregon State line.
Landscape maintenance is revealing itself to be a facade in front of illusion and delusion. Sorting out the viable and useful from "it's what everyone else does" is no easy matter.
You throw the keys to your landscape to a maintenance service. Is your landscape actually being maintained properly? Are you simply taking it for granted?
Many Landscapes are constipated and need help.
After 20+ years in this industry; I can tell you that landscape maintenance is largely broken and a false economy. No one is watching over these services and after approximately (7) years (sometimes longer) of butchering and so called maintenance you wake up and the landscape looks dull and drab with little remaining dignity. How much $$ was not only invested in the landscape install but all those years paid for maintaining the landscape?
Confusion has replaced clarity and landscapes become muddled in dire need of clarity and sound vibrant action.
You need someone inspecting your landscape and looking out for your best interest. I witness every week serious problems being ignored and neglected which is going to cost you money if not corrected.
A successful clean, green, and well-defined landscape is yours if you can manage to find an informed gate keeper.
Ironically; I make no friends in industry circles by exposing problems. I want to emphasize that after everyone is paid and goes away... it's you that inherits all the mistakes and problems created by poor planting and landscape maintenance. You get left with the consequences. It's your landscape and it's you that gets to walk outside and see your hopes shattered and all the responsibility of trying to "Fix" the problems.
The best advice I can give you is that there is a conflict of interest between you and these services. Don't buy into them looking out for your best interest. Get someone that can hold these services accountable and educate you the client on what management practices need to be done to your landscape as it grows and matures.
Contact me; I can help.
Specialized Shrub Care
I frequently get calls from frantic homeowners who are overwhelmed with how their ornamental shrubs have morphed into confusion and disarray. They don't quite know where to go for answers. They have tried the regular landscape maintenance route and found it lacking.
Exceptional detailed shrub pruning takes skill. I've been all over the Birmingham, AL area and witness first-hand what is called pruning today. It matters little whether I'm in Mountain Brook, Homewood, Vestavia, Shoal Creek, Hoover, Greystone, etc.
Honestly what I see is landscapes being “maintained” and slowly year by year they deteriorate until the overall landscape becomes disorganized, sloppy, with little remaining dignity.
Finding a competent, experienced, professional with real world experience is difficult to find. This is largely a dying skill. Hand pruners have been replaced with gas powered shears. Shearing shrubs has become the normal practice that is fast, low skill and largely awful for your shrubs. Yes; there are hedges that need shearing but the majority of shrubs should never be sheared.
My shrub care is very limited. I offer specialized shrub care for high value ornamental shrubs. As an example; I manage 140 American boxwoods for one client. These boxwoods would be in the 75k range to replace. Another client I prune a large planting of azaleas that are the main focal point in the front of their home. I also prune their Japanese maple trees. Every client has a little different need and priority. Some clients want only pruning while others want pruning and a plant heath care management plan that includes monitoring inspections, fertilization, and insect/disease control.
Many clients have me hand pruning the most valued ornamental shrubs while the landscape maintenance crew takes care of the lower priority plants.
Again; my services are extremely limited and are performed by me. I'm not interested in being some large business. Developing personal business relationships and trust with my clients is important to me. I don't want to be everyone's shrub expert. I will likely be the only ISA Certified Arborist managing your shrubs on your street if not your entire neighborhood.
If you have a need for a graceful, elegant look; call or email me and we can discuss if your needs and what I offer are a good fit for both of us.
Protect Your Tree and Ornamental Shrubs from Insect and Disease Infestations
Are you needing answers for tree and shrub problems? Not sure what's the problem but your beloved shrubs look sick? Don't wait until they are literally half dead before you decide to get some help.
Warning...If the problem is mis-diagnosed any mitigation will likely be in vain and a waste of your money.
The first step is to locate a competent professional to properly inspect, identify and treat insect or disease problems. It might be worth considering that this individual is independent and not being paid or work for your landscape maintenance service.
After the problem is properly diagnosed a treatment plan can be prescribed for your sick tree or shrubs.
Contact me today for any problems you have with sick tree and shrubs.
3 Ways to Kill your shrubs.
1. Over watering shrubs creating saturated soils that lead to root rot diseases.
2. Over pruning during the wrong time of year. Don;t let services over prune shrubs in the fall. This is a common mistake and can cause winter injury.
3. Ignoring shrubs that appear sick. Most shrubs that look sick and inferior are stressed. This can lead to secondary pest that may cause the shrub(s) to die.
I Need a Tree and Shrub Plan... What Do You Offer?
What is (PHC) Plant Health Care?
The purpose of a plant health care program is to protect your landscape investment by incorporating a professional management plan. This professional management plan helps provide healthy, vibrant ornamentals. This allows a more aesthetically pleasing landscape for your enjoyment, augments the value of your home, and helps prevent the high cost of replacing ornamental plants that die, look stunted, or are dull and inferior. The applications are timed to address and meet the needs of the ornamentals at that particular time of year.
All programs implement sound horticultural practices in respect to a management plan to prevent insect and disease infestations. Insect and disease problems severely stress a plant causing it to weaken and stunt growth. This opens up the opportunity of other pest to invade the plant due to its weakened condition. If the problem is allowed to persist the ornamental plant will begin drop its leaves. At this point photosynthesis is greatly reduced (depending on the amount of leaf abscission from plant stress) and the plant is relying on its stored energy reserves to help it live. If these energy reserves are depleted it will die.
A main focus of PHC is reducing pesticide use and dependency. Plant health is the primary goal not solely pest eradication.
Monitoring visits include a visual inspection of tree and shrubs for key plant stress symptoms. These stress symptoms are identified (such as insect, disease, environmental, or man made) and only then are treatments prescribed and applied. Plant Health Care requires a more informed individual to identify and list plant species affected by anticipated stress factors. This provides advanced planning for treatments which enables greater success in the results. This is environmentally sensitive and responsible.
Some of the superior qualities of a Plant Health Care Management Protection Plan include:
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A smarter choice... A subtly detailed, vibrant, elegant landscape gives you a return on your landscape investment, increases your quality of life, and actually reduces long term maintenance cost.
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No more agonizing... Have a competent reliable expert. A trusted adviser who takes care of the details. Providing your landscape with distinction and stand-out status.
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Like having an Iron Shield around your landscape... Expert monitoring visits by a Certified Arborist to inspect your tree and shrubs protects your landscape from destructive biotic and abiotic problems often overlooked and ignored . This saves you from the errors and costly mistakes associated with generic shrub care services.
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Enjoy elegant and graceful ornamental shrubs... Recommendations and proper shrub pruning gives you amazingly vibrant ornamental shrubs with superior bloom quality.
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Solid, informed decisions... Finally get out of the horticultural and arboricultural dyslexia cycle. Stop replacing trees and shrubs just to have them slowly die then replaced again.
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Exhale and Relax… have the peace of mind knowing your landscape and best interest are being put first.
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Plants will love you... Healthy plants start with diagnosing soil needs. Soil samples taken for ornamental shrub beds and sent to diagnostic lab for analysis.
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Brighten your landscape. Amendments applied to lawn and landscape to correct any unhealthy soil nutrient deficiencies revealed in soil lab analysis results.
I offer (4) Different Professional Plant Health Care Plans. There is a plan that will meet your landscape needs. Please remember my services are limited and I can't help everyone. These plans get you a Certified Arborist on site inspecting and treating your ornamentals. You simply are going to have a difficult time finding a more qualified service.
Shield Plant Health Care - Protect your ornamental tree and shrubs. Fertilization, insect and disease control. Monitoring visits included. This PHC plan gives your landscape just the right amount of inspections (monitoring visits) and environmentally responsible applications perfectly timed to address your landscapes needs. No unneeded, harmful applications. Shield PHC is specifically designed for the ultimate option versus the "generic" shrub care plans offered by lawn care services.
Shield-Pro Plant Health Care - Includes all the benefits of the Shield PHC plan plus weed control in shrub beds and natural areas. Most shrub care neglects to offer weed control for shrub beds and natural areas. This plan includes pre-emergent applications to prevent most (not all) weeds from germinating from seeds and infesting your beloved shrubs. Spot spraying of weeds is also included for emerged weeds and the pre-emergent does not adequately control. Vines are also spot sprayed but this PHC plan does not include hand pulling of weeds.
Thrive Plant Health Care - Includes all the benefits of the Shield-Pro plan plus Hand pruning is performed at the correct time of year for every plant in your landscape. The application of plant growth regulators (PGR) will be applied to needed ornamental shrubs to maintain shape. All plants are pruned with an emphasis on proper form and structure. Lime or sulfur applications applied to correct pH levels if needed.
Thrive-Pro Plant Health Care - Includes all the benefits of the Thrive PHC plan plus a comprehensive pruning schedule with additional touch-up pruning, irrigation inspections, and fire ant control for property. This plan also includes hand pulling of weeds in areas underneath shrubs and in groundcover such as ivy or liriope. An exclusive PHC plan for the discerning client.
