“There. It looks like a tree!”
My husband, Kevin, uttered this assessment after we stepped back from pruning the almond tree one evening earlier this week.
After barely surviving transplantation three years ago, the almond has grown like a weed — branches embracing the sun in all directions, evidently overjoyed to have lived. Despite what I thought was judicious pruning last spring, its out-of-control growth continued.
In other years, we’ve tackled this task in March, before the trees break dormancy. This winter’s deep snows and frigid temperatures delayed the project, but spring seems to have arrived in earnest and our window is slamming shut.
So, with rain threatening and a chill wind blowing, we circled the overgrown specimen, picturing the possibilities. After careful deliberation and a few tentative trims with the loppers, we hauled out the saw and made some serious, surgical cuts.
It does indeed now look like a tree. Let’s hope it grows like one.
My husband, Kevin, uttered this assessment after we stepped back from pruning the almond tree one evening earlier this week.
After barely surviving transplantation three years ago, the almond has grown like a weed — branches embracing the sun in all directions, evidently overjoyed to have lived. Despite what I thought was judicious pruning last spring, its out-of-control growth continued.
In other years, we’ve tackled this task in March, before the trees break dormancy. This winter’s deep snows and frigid temperatures delayed the project, but spring seems to have arrived in earnest and our window is slamming shut.
So, with rain threatening and a chill wind blowing, we circled the overgrown specimen, picturing the possibilities. After careful deliberation and a few tentative trims with the loppers, we hauled out the saw and made some serious, surgical cuts.
It does indeed now look like a tree. Let’s hope it grows like one.
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