This last week had some good clear weather perfect for pruning. I haven’t had a chance to take care of the brush growing by the creek in the arboretum for many years. With no snow on the ground, the creek running low and days not too cold, I thought I’d better get going. So with some help from my horticultural apprentice Stevie, we cleared the creek banks out and chipped it all up.
I mention this because while we were working, Stevie mentioned something about vista pruning. Obviously, at the time, we were taking out a lot of brush and opening up the sightlines in the rear garden. A lot of the creek came into view, as well as some neat rocks. There aren’t that many rocks on the property so they are a bit of a curiosity. Near the top of the gardens, we removed some old shrubs and opened the view through the trees so that the neighboring orchards with mountains beyond came into view. Intrigued, I decided to do a little more research on the subject of vista pruning.
Vista pruning can be defined as the process where branches are selectively pruned to create a viewing window within the tree. Often it is done to enhance the view of landscapes or mountains from a specific viewpoint. We were doing some of that along with a few other tree pruning processes like crown raising — whereby the lower branches of a tree are removed to increase visibility or clearance, so that the lawnmower would fit underneath some of the smaller trees better.
Later this winter we will need to do quite a lot of crown cleaning, as the older trees are full of deadwood. This process is required in situations where dead, damaged or diseased branches present a liability and should be removed to help promote the health and vigor of the trees. We will need some warmer weather for this, as it will likely involve a lot of tree climbing.
Evan Davies owns Beltane Nursery at 2915 Highway 3 in Erickson.
