Maintaining My Allee of Lindens
Time for some high pruning and maintenance on my linden trees.
Last week, my outdoor grounds crew continued the task of pruning various trees at the farm. This time, they tackled some of the lindens. Lindens, Tilia, are medium to large sized shade trees that are easy to maintain and beautiful in any landscape. I have two linden tree allées - one that runs from the old corn crib all the way down to the chicken coops and the other slightly older allée near my stable. These trees, with their pyramidal shape and slow growth, are good specimens for the type of pruning called pollarding. Pollarding involves the removal of a tree's upper branches to promote the growth of club-headed stems and dense new foliage and branches.
Enjoy these photos.
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- Here are the lindens located next to my pigeon yard not far from the stable. This photo was taken just before pruning began. It was a very cloudy day with more snow in the forecast, but not too windy so it was perfect for some high tree work.
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- These lindens have grown beautifully here at the farm. This photo was taken in summer when the trees were all full of leaves. These handsome trees have a loose canopy that produces dappled shade on the ground below, allowing in just enough sunlight for shade grasses and flowers to develop nicely.
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- Here they are in late summer just before the leaves turn. Linden trees are easy to care for and ideal for urban landscapes because they tolerate a wide range of adverse conditions, including pollution.
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- And in autumn, the leaves take on a beautiful golden hue before eventually dropping.
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- The best time to prune and pollard trees is when the trees are dormant, during the cold winter months. It’s best to complete all pruning before early spring when the buds begin to form. Dormancy pruning reduces the amount of stress placed on the tree. The reduced flow of fluids in the tree during the time helps the pruning wounds heal quicker.
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- It is easy to see where any branch was previously cut. Here are a couple of last year’s cuts.
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- High, overcrowded, or dead limbs are removed first. Pasang does this from our Hi-Lo’s safety basket. Then he starts pollarding, which is essentially forming a “knuckle” or “bole” by removing growth back to the main stem.
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- Domi works from the ground cutting off suckers and low, diseased, or crisscrossing branches.
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- He uses a good pair of Okatsune bypass pruners. Each crew member always carries a pair of sharp snips. Remember, a sharp tool always cuts clean, and helps the plant to recover better. Dull cutting tools rip and shred the plant tissue.
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- Pasang is trained in climbing trees and wears all the necessary safety equipment including gloves, a helmet, eye protection, and a body safety harness.
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- Chhiring always has his eye on those up in the trees – it’s important to have someone on the ground watching out for the safety of the crew.
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- Pasang also removes branches that appear weak or have a crotch angle of less than 30-degrees.
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- Down below, the crew spreads out a large tarp to catch all the fallen branches. This makes cleanup a lot easier and a lot faster. Once the tarp is full, the branches are loaded onto the dump truck and taken to a designated pile for the wood chipper.
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- Here is one tree all done – notice the tops are starting to develop “nubs” or “knuckles” – these will look even better in about three years. More thought and planning goes into pollarding than regular topping, and lopping. Pollarding is similar to coppicing but plants are cut back to a stump, rather than down to the ground.
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- Here is a bird’s eye view from the Hi-Lo. The left side is done, but trees on the right still need work. Regular and thorough pruning will give the branches more air circulation and room to grow.
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- From up high, one can notice how level the top is – all the trees are trimmed to the same height. Pollarding is started when a tree or shrub reaches a certain desired height.
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- This entire process takes a few days to do properly by hand, but it is all worth the efforts to have well-manicured, healthy trees. Each year the long slender shoots that grow below the cuts will be removed, and a set of new shoots will develop creating a gnarled appearance.
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- And here is the allee all finished. Some of the other types of trees that can benefit from pollarding include beech trees, black locust trees, catalpa trees, hornbeams, horsechestnuts, London planetrees, mulberry trees, redbuds, and willows.
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- The branches look so pretty outlined in snow. I am looking forward to seeing the dense heads of foliage come spring.
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- Pollarding can help make trees live longer by maintaining them in a partially juvenile state and by reducing the weight and windage of the top part of the tree. This linden allee is so beautiful, I am hoping they can live for many, many years to come.
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