help your greatest landscape assets live their best life year round
Nothing does more to elevate home value and keep your cool than tree canopy. Timelines for their care are dependent upon conditions like heat, fire, and rainfall. Here are the steps our maintenance teams take to protect and preserve them and the general timeframe in which they fall.
Mid-Winter
Feed Fruit Trees: We support new rose and fruit tree growth with organic material feedings – this ensures roses and fruit trees have everything they need to give you their very best.
Trim Conifers: The dead of winter when it’s coldest presents the least possibility of attracting bark beetles.
Add Water: Native trees are accustomed to getting a good soak during the traditional December-February rainy season. If we see subnormal rains, we provide supplemental water.
Prune Stone Fruits: Pruning now leads to more productive yields in summer.
Late Winter-Early Spring
Deep Feed: Non-oak deciduous trees receive all-organic deep feeding prior to their spring growth spurts.
Early Spring
Cull Fruit Trees: We remove smaller fruits from fruit trees. This allows the tree to focus on making the remaining fruit large and tasty! The process also supports organic tree-health.
Protect Nests: We halt all trimming during this time frame to protect nesting birds and fauna, many of which have limited habitat. We continue to watch and listen for potential safety issues and any weakness that could invite deadly shothole borer beetles.
Summer
Deep Water: Our summers are a real challenge for non-native trees, and our record high heat and drought duration are work for non-oak natives too. Even those with their own hydrozoned irrigation may need to receive deep watering about once a month to keep them healthy.
Deep Feed: Non-oak evergreens also receive deep feeding to help them manage summer.
Prune Oaks: Oak trees are the sole habitat for many native feathered friends and other fauna that nest during summer. For that reason, oak tree pruning takes place only as they are empty nesters when residents have flown the coop for the summer.
Early Autumn
Add Stakes: Young trees and some shrubs need stakes in preparation for Santa Ana winds. We evaluate tree needs and shrubs annually, as stakes can lose strength, and foliage will gain stability with growth.
Begin Trimming: Non-native deciduous trees, Eucalyptus, conifers are trimmed in fall to ensure they are hydrated, healthy and strong as we enter Santa Ana and fire season. This is also the timeframe when deadly bark beetles are least active, so it reduces the changes that trimming will create vulnerabilities to infestation.
Halt Trimming: Prime oak growth season begins at the start of October. To protect the wellbeing of native flora and fauna, we halt trimming that isn’t absolutely necessary for safety and security.
Continue Deep Watering: Ensuring root hydration is important to protecting these valuable resources.