The right landscaping can significantly improve your home’s curb appeal, make a backyard a welcoming haven and probably even make your neighbors a little envious too. While properly pruning your trees will keep them healthy and looking great, it’s possible to get creative and improve your home’s look even more by shaping your trees and bushes.
Let’s look at the techniques used in the art of tree shaping by Edmonton arborists.
WHAT IS TREE SHAPING?
Tree shaping is the art of using living wood to create structures ranging from simple geometric shapes that accentuate your yard’s look, to highly complex figurative pieces. Different trees have varying growth patterns, and arborists who work in tree shaping use distinct techniques to achieve specific results.
AEOROPONIC TREE SHAPING
Aeoroponics is the process by which a tree is grown in the air (usually in a misty environment). This technique allows an arborist to shape a tree’s roots as it grows without damaging them. Aeroponic tree shaping is fairly delicate, and while not all trees are ideal for it, it’s often used with fig trees, a popular type for this intriguing art.
INSTANT TREE SHAPING
This process consists in bending young tree whips into a specific shape, often weaving them together and then attaching them to metal bars. The tree grows on the bars, eventually creating a sort of cast of the desired shape. This technique is used for figurative tree shaping, like faces, geometric designs and other kinds of complex patterns. One well-known example of the technique is a tree that’s been grown in the shape of a chair you can actually sit on.
GRADUAL TREE SHAPING
Gradual tree shaping begins with designing a frame that will guide tree growth over a long period of time, sometimes up to 40 years. Once this frame is constructed, seedlings or saplings are planted near the frame and are then trained and coaxed along pre-determined growth pathways. This technique is popular because it can be used multiple times on the same tree, although its disadvantage is that it requires constant, in some cases daily, attention and takes a very long time.
CONTACT TREE SHAPING EXPERTS FROM ALL SEASON TREE SERVICE NEAR YOU!
You might think tree shaping sounds easy, but the techniques required are complex and achieving the desired result takes training and expertise. Just like tree cutting, shaping trees and shrubs is best left to professional arborists. If you’re in the Edmonton area, All Season Tree Service and we can help you get your yard into shape. Contact us today for a free estimate.