It is true, I have been working steadily on the trees and shrubs, working over the branches, making sure that they are structurally in good shape for the rains and winds that may be coming. It is so important to have them opened up so that there will not be broken branches, and even branches that are too long and insecure that have the possibility of breaking and falling onto the house.
I started with my palms, especially the Queen palms because the fronds do not fall off cleanly from the main trunk. The long pole cutter with a combo sharp saw and cutter-pruner at the end is a wonderful tool and it has saved me countless dollars. I can reach high up into the palm fronds and cut them off. Sometimes I use the saw fixture on fronds that are in postions too awkward for the pruner. I like to have all my palms pruned so that the winds will not lash them about. There is someting nerve-wracking about not having them secured as the winds mount while I try to sleep.
And then, after I've done the pruning, I spend a puttering-morning caring for my tools; sharpening the blades razor sharp, oiling the pulleys and chains, replacing worn ropes. I cannot live with poorly cared for tools, of any kind. I think you can know a lot about a person by how he or she cares for tools. My daughter-in-law is the best beautician I know, and she lays out her tools on a clean white clothe as would a surgeon. And, my carving tools, some from my grandfathers, are always razor sharp, oiled with camillia oil, and stored in individual sectioned drawers. The handles have the patina of old leather. I can hear the comments now, but that's how I care for tools, and that is why I shall pass them on to my children.
Also, the non-palm trees have gotten my pruning efforts. I have cleared out all of those wispy, crossing inner-tree brances that can bring a tree down in heavy winds. It is hard work, but I feel good at the end of the day. You,ve heard it before; "I didn't realize that tree had grown so large". Now the tree is broken, or worse, down, and one has to call the tree trimmers at some big expense, when all this could have been avoided with some care.
Actually, a garden that is well pruned has an incomparable, special living Form. The most beautiful garden that I have ever seen, structurally, is the Butchart Garden in Vancouver, British Columbia in the dead of winter. Butch-art, eh? as the Canadians would say. The Gardeners there have the aesthetics of paintings and woodcuts by the English mystics Samuel Palmer and John Craxton. The Butchart pruner-artists know how to bring out the line, texture, and structure of old tree trunks, making them beautiful in themselves and also setting off the overall structure of the garden geography and its confines. Winter light is never so lovely as it is on those carefully pruned tree branches and trunks; a winter light so very bright but without warmth. The great English potter Michael Cardew said that is how old age is.But today, many of our gardens do not possess trees of age because we pop 'em in and pop 'em out. The oldest trees in my neighborhood are only 30-35 years old, except for the olives which are probably 60-70 years because they were moved in. I've seen countless trees in my neighborhood sacrificed to the so-called gods of progress, remodels, and renovations, what "they" call "moving on up". For a few weeks, I cannot bear to walk by those places where trees I have loved for years have been cut to the base of their trunks. Still, no excuse. Any tree or shrub can be pruned with care, concern for natural beauty, and love. It all depends on whether or not one cares about such things.
