A professional arborist like James Cairnes, owner of a Small World Tree Company, a Diamond Certified company, believes that all pruning should preserve as much of the tree and look as natural as possible. Young trees need what’s called “formative pruning,” where you take out competing stems that could cause problems in the future. Directional pruning is also done on many types of trees, mainly to improve the structure and aesthetics of a tree.

Mr. Cairnes is often asked to help with view restoration. That means cutting off branches with the idea of balancing the homeowner’s view while maintaining the integrity of the trees. Sometimes fruit production is the goal for trimming and pruning, and another specialty is Asian pruning, which used to achieve a certain look for the landscape and garden.

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