Before and After

So here you go -- a quick look at our tree-trimming adventures!

First, the patio. The neighbor's climbing rose was encroaching over the fence (right) and the camellia was being engulfed by the gigantic mock orange (or Philadelphus).

The trimmers, as you can see, cut the rose off at the fence line and substantially trimmed the Philadelphus to get it away from the camellia. At the same time, we tried to leave it as rambly and tall as possible because the birds like it and there are several old nests in those tall branches.

Second, the hazel (at left), which as you can see was growing outward and casting shade over the garden. It was almost touching the branches of the walnut.

Now it's been cut back to give more light to the garden.

Finally, the Philadelphus in the back, near the Japanese maple, had practically taken over.

We had it substantially reduced in height and pruned away from the maple, so the maple can get more light and show off those flashy red leaves!

There was some other work as well, but that's the bulk of it. As you can see, we didn't opt for any radical changes and our garden is still quite shrubby, which is great for the birds and critters. The tree crew did do a great job -- better than we could ever have done, given the height of some of the work -- and they also raked the lawn! Bonus!