Are there smaller diameter dead limbs throughout the canopy of your live oak? In a drought, the live oaks, as with most trees are also experiencing stress. The good news is that live oaks are extremely drought tolerant. They are resilient and can handle long periods with very little water. Very few diseases affect live …
Maintaining Bradford pears in the United States is a multi-million dollar per year industry. When Bradfords were more widely planted, billions or dollars were spent maintaining, bolting, cabling and bracing them. Cities are and have been moving away from Bradford pears for years, and are replacing them with less problematic, more easily maintained and longer …
One of the most frequently asked questions I get is: when is the best time to prune my live oaks? Is there a “correct” or “better” time? Many people believe the spring is a bad time, or summer is a bad time. Are they right? Are they wrong? The bottom line is that there’s a lot of …
When is the best time of year to prune my live oaks? Read More »
Are your oak trees defoliating, with black stains on the trunks and frothy, bleeding cankers? Another of the most overly misdiagnosed and misunderstood fungal problems associated with oak trees in the Austin area is the commonly misspelled phytophthera spp. This fungus, of which several types affect many hardwoods and plants, can be quite disruptive to …
Bald cypress, Taxodium distichum, are some of the most beautiful, largest and longest lived deciduous trees in Central Texas. I would like to buy some land, so I can plant a forest of these trees; I love them so much. They occur naturally around lakes and rivers, and are commonly planted around ponds and poorly drained …
Southern magnolias, Magnolia grandiflora, are widely considered to be one of the most beautiful and sought after tree species in the Southern and even Western United States. Not only are they often extremely large at maturity, but they live for upwards of 100 years under the right conditions, and explode all summer long with the most …
Magnolias and their care in the greater Austin area Read More »
Shumard oaks are in the red oak family. The scientific name is Quercus shumardii. As one of the largest species of the southern red oak group, they are beautiful, long-lived trees that grow enormous and live for a long time, often over 100 years in the right growing conditions. They are also prized for their beautiful …
Shumard oaks are in the red oak family. The scientific name is Quercus shumardii. As one of the largest species of the southern red oak group, they are beautiful, long-lived trees that grow enormous and live for a long time, often over 100 years in the right growing conditions. They are also prized for their beautiful …
Post oaks have arguably the most sensitive roots of all native Central Texas tree species. On multiple occasions throughout my career, I have been called out to diagnose declining post oaks in and around the Austin area. With this particular species, it is extremely important to note that ANY root disturbance at all can lead …
Actually, the correct term is tree pruning. Years ago when I first started in the industry, I specifically remember the phrase “prune the word trim from your vocabulary”. However, for the sake of simplicity, and because it’s an important search term, we will continue calling it tree trimming for the rest of this page… When Should a …
