Limbing Up Trees

June 30, 2025

As the owner of many gardens, groves, and allées, I am constantly looking at all the trees, making sure they are in good condition.

Pruning is one of the biggest and most important gardening chores. Not only does pruning improve the overall health of the plants, it also prevents disease, and encourages better growth. When assessing my trees, I also think about general appearance as well as safety. Last week, I noticed the allée of lindens that grows in two horse pastures needed some attention. The lower branches had grown so much, my horses could not walk under them for shade. I asked Pete Sherpa from my outdoor grounds crew to "limb up" the trees, meaning remove all the lowest branches to allow for more clearance and air circulation.

Here are some photos, enjoy.

: Lindens, Tilia, are medium to large sized shade trees that are easy to maintain and attractive in any landscape. I have two linden tree allées. One outside my stable and this one which runs from the old corn crib all the way down to the chicken coops.

: Notice the lowest branches. They are very low to the ground and need trimming to control its shape and to allow for better air circulation through the center of the specimen. I also like to prune the branches so anyone on foot, on horseback, or my horses themselves, could pass through easily. This low branch work is called limbing up or crown raising.

: I extended this allée in 2017 all the way down to the chicken coops. These trees are developing so nicely and are pruned every couple of years. Pete focuses on the lower branches only, but cuts off any dead, damaged, diseased, or crisscrossing branches.

: Pete uses his hand tree saw carefully cutting from the bottom most branches up.

: It is important to always use sharp tools whenever pruning so that the cuts are clean. Dull tools are difficult to use and could even damage the tree. A straight, clean-cut promotes quick healing of the wound and reduces stress on the specimen.

: And new cuts are always made outside the branch collar at a 45 to 60 degree angle to the branch bark ridge.

: I instructed Pete to make sure there was about 13 and a half feet of clearance under the trees. He uses the back of the Polaris off-road vehicle to safely cut what he cannot reach from the ground.

: For small branches, Pete is able to use his sharp bypass Okatsune pruners.

: As branches are taken down, they’re gathered and placed into tidy piles, so they can be cleaned up easily and quickly. After the job is done the crew will chip the branches and use the wood chips as top dressing in another area of the farm. Everything is always reused, repurposed or recycled when possible.

: Once cut, there is still lots of shade, but the area is more accessible for my tall Friesians. There is light and air circulating through the allée, and one can see more clearly underneath the trees.

: Pasang, my resident tree expert, comes by to help gather all the branches. My crew always works in teams, so there is always help for every project.

: The branches are manually picked up and placed into the tractor’s loader bucket.

: The branches are then carefully dropped into the back of my dump truck and taken to the back compost yard where they will await chipping.

: Regular and thorough pruning will also give the branches more room to grow. When mature, lindens reach 50 to 80 feet in height with a spread of 35 to 50 feet. Its growth rate is about 13 to 24 inches a year.

: This entire process takes a couple of days to do properly by hand, but it is all worth the efforts to have well-manicured, healthy trees.

: And here are two of my handsome boys. I am sure they will appreciate the job well done.

: I also like the branch cutoff areas to be colored, so they are not visible. Notice, the cut in this photo. A little dark spray paint disguises the new cut until it ages and turns gray on its own.