devil

Evil vs Good
This Information Is Important
If You Plan To Install Any Trees
Or Have Existing Trees On Your Property.

the wholesale butchery of trees by so-called tree experts and anyone with a chainsaw is a sin against Nature. It seems to be some kind of a quasi-cultural practice in this area, perhaps even a ritual of sorts, something I've never seen anywhere else in the civilized world.

This wholesale butchery is the pollarding (topping or cutting naturally-growing tree limbs back to stumps) of trees into disfigured, unnatural shapes and forms to fit an artificial environment. Unfortunately, it's prevalent everywhere throughout front yards, along streets, even in the downtown shopping areas in the York County and northern Maryland areas.

Originally, this was a European practice of gathering kindling and firewood for the homefires. It migrated the USA with Dutch and German immigrants, and has proliferated in York County to such a degree that a high percentage of the maples, oaks and other trees have already received this brutal and unnecessary treatment.

The local tree companies know better than to do this. Yet they perform this stupid butchery all over the county. What's wrong with that picture?

When a tree is pollarded, tremendous stress will occur in the weakened tree from the brutal surgery. Disease, insects and decay will attack the tree and further weaken it to the point of near-death. It's only a matter of time until the tree begins its decline toward death. And once the evil pollarding ritual has been initiated, it must continue yearly to avoid further deformation of the tree.

For all intents and purposes, this is the beginning of the end of the tree. You've just killed the tree, effectively, by allowing this butchery to be done.

Now the monstrous trees are regularly-butchered back to fit the tiny plots of ground. Or even worse, butchered-back to keep them as flowering street trees along town and city sidewalks. York, Stewartstown and Red Lion are such examples: 35-40ft Kwanzan and Yoshino Cherries used as street trees cut back to almost unrecognizeable forms, growing into buildings, overhanging streets and posing threats to pedestrians with low-hanging limbs. Same for Maples, Oaks, junk Bradford Pears, Sweetgums and a host of other large trees installed in all the wrong places.

Years ago, these small trees were planted by people or nurserys who knew not or cared nothing about the trees' final, mature dimensions. Over time, the cute little trees grew large. Very large. Actually, 90% of all the yards around here were, and still are, too small to accommodate such massive shade trees, such as Pin Oaks, Norway and Sugar Maples. Smaller ornamental trees should have been used instead of those giant yard trees. Or the large trees should have been placed in areas where they could fully-mature without the wanton butchery that now takes place each Spring and Fall by unqualified individuals and so-called expert companies. A quality nursery would have pointed this fact out and strenuously-warned against such unrestrained future growth in confined areas. It seems that quality was severely lacking in those nurserys and all they cared about was the immediate sale, not the end result in 30-50 years.

Any garden center or quality nursery knows the real truth about the trees' sizes and cultural requirements; many just want to make a sale and you'll suffer the consequences in a few years. We'll forsake the sale for the truth in favor of your continuing trust in our honesty. Our unique 5-year Warranty assures you of that, and that's something no one else does.

Yes Virginia, there is truth in advertising. Always has been in ours.

If you do have one of the above-discussed tree situations, call-in a quality tree service company (we can recommend two very reputable ones) and have some truly expert pruning and thinning done to correct and preserve the original form of the tree. Eliminate the sinful butchery. If the trees are beyond real hope, do the smart thing: have them professionally-removed and come see us right away to plan for the correct trees to replace them in the correct places. The kindest thing anyone could do in this situation is to completely remove the tree and replace it with the proper tree(s) this time around. Then the next few generations of owners aren't forced to participate in this evil act of tree butchery called pollarding.

Take careful note City Planners: there are specially-hybridized street trees available, such as the Ginko, Okame Cherry, Linden and others which are high-branched and more columnar than spreading. Use them instead of giant yard trees and stop the annual butchery rituals. Give us a call, we'll help you plan the correct ones this time around. (One very smart person on the York County Planning Commission already has sought our advice and we're very, very impressed!) There's no charge; we'd just like to see it done right the first time and have York become a nicer landscaped place to live and enjoy visually.

When shopping for any tree, demand the correct and complete information on mature size and care. Choose wisely and don't let a sub-standard nursery talk you into one of the wrong trees, even if the "price is right". (The only things that should be bought on price alone are paper clips and drywall screws, not trees.) You'll pay the price many times over after the wrong choice is made, if you buy on price alone. And you always get what you pay for. Always.

In addition to carrying only Premium Dark Bark Mulch, we feature over 900 varieties of perennials, 200 varieties of annuals and herbs, over 100 varieties of ornamental grasses and bamboos, and more than 1600 cultivars of nursery stock, ranging from the common to the very rare, unusual and hard-to-find. Our Collector's Rare Plant Nursery has been supplying gardening enthusiasts for over seven years, and is a must for connoisseurs and serious collectors.

Our Nursery Division can supply any request from the common to very rare and unusual material. And if you need a tree or shrub moved, we feature a special team capable of easily moving anything from 1-inch to 10-inch diameter trees. Call us for a free consultation and estimate.

Our Warranty: is unmatched by anyone, anywhere, and is one (1) year from date of purchase if you install the plant material; it is five (5) years if we install the material. Call, write or email us for a complete copy of The Warranty. It's also online right here.

Drop by our Website on The InterNet for a tour of the Garden Center & Nursery. It's located at www.gdnctr.com for those digerati among you out there who are connected on-line.