It’s winter, and an important time for tree pruning and the pollarding of deciduous trees. If you haven’t heard of pollarding, the Royal Horticultural Society calls it:
A method of pruning that keeps trees and shrubs smaller than they would naturally grow. It is normally started once a tree or shrub reaches a certain height, and annual pollarding will restrict the plant to that height.
You can learn more about it on their site here. Or in this NY Times article: CUTTINGS; Art in Progress: The Quirky Appeal of Pollarding
To get a first hand look at pollarded sycamore trees, you can visit the 16 acres of formal gardens at Filoli which is in Woodside, California. There are also a lot of pollarded sycamore trees in San Francisco, especially in Russian Hill, where this tree pruning technique is kept up annually. (Not so everywhere, due to budget cuts) 🙁
And finally… Check out our Video Above to get a GLIMPSE of the pollarding of 64 sycamore and elm trees in San Francisco’s Band Shell (the area between the De Young Museum and the Academy of Science in Golden Gate Park). Thank you Flavio Flaviani of the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department, for sharing with us your time and thoughts on this topic!
Happy Gardening!
Nicole
It’s FREE and FUN and GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH!!!
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