Service
Tree and Shrub Care in Atlanta
Pruning, shaping, removals and cleanups that keep a mature yard from swallowing the house.
Atlanta yards get eaten by their own trees. Loblolly pine, water oak, willow oak, sweetgum and poplar all grow fast here, and shrubs planted three feet off a foundation thirty years ago are now sitting over the windows. Tree and shrub care in Atlanta is mostly about keeping a mature yard in proportion to the house without butchering it. We prune, shape, reduce overgrown shrubs, clear deadwood, limb up low canopy, take out what needs to come out, and clean up after storms.
Pruning has a right time, and cutting at the wrong time costs a year of flowers. Azaleas, gardenias and bigleaf hydrangeas set next season's buds shortly after they bloom, so they get pruned right after flowering and never in fall. Crapemyrtles get thinned and cleaned, not topped. Cutting one back to knuckles every winter produces weak whippy growth and a permanently damaged trunk. Evergreen hedges like holly, ligustrum and cherry laurel take shaping through the growing season. An overgrown shrub that still has decent structure can usually be brought back over two seasons instead of being pulled out and replaced.
Storms are the other half of the work. After days of rain, saturated clay holds a root plate much less firmly, and that is when wind takes pines down. Water oaks are all over the older intown neighborhoods and they decline from the inside as they age, dropping heavy limbs with no warning on a still day. We look for deadwood over the roof, over the drive, and over anywhere people sit, and take it down before it comes down on its own. We do not top trees. Topping does not make a tree safer, it makes it regrow weaker.
Vines get their own visit. English ivy climbing a trunk adds weight and sail area and hides defects in the bark underneath. Privet, wisteria and kudzu will take a back yard in a single season if nothing is done about them. Cutting the vines at the base and pulling them off the lower trunk is the start, and it takes a follow up. Some work sits outside what a landscape crew should touch. A large removal over a house, anything near a power line, or a tree that needs a crane is a different trade, and we will say so plainly when that is what you have.
Common questions
- When should shrubs be pruned?
- It depends what they are. Spring bloomers like azalea, gardenia and bigleaf hydrangea get pruned right after they finish flowering, because they set next year's buds soon after. Prune them in fall or winter and you cut off the flowers. Evergreen hedges take shaping through the growing season. Deadwood and hazard limbs can come out any time of year.
- Can my overgrown shrubs be saved, or do they have to come out?
- Often they can be saved. A healthy holly, ligustrum or azalea that has simply gotten too big can be reduced hard over two seasons and come back dense, which is cheaper than replacing mature plants. Shrubs that are leggy and hollow at the base, planted somewhere they will never get light, or crowded right against the foundation are usually better removed and replanted with something correctly sized.
- How do I know if a tree is a problem?
- Things worth a closer look: mushrooms or fungal growth at the base, a lean with soil lifting on the opposite side, large deadwood in the canopy, cracks in a main stem, and cavities where limbs failed before. Older water oaks in particular decline internally while still looking full. If a tree looks questionable and it is near the house, get a certified arborist to assess it before anyone starts cutting.
- What drives the cost of pruning or a cleanup?
- Height and reach first, since anything needing to be worked from a ladder or aloft takes longer and is more careful work. Then proximity to the house, cars and power lines, because material has to be lowered rather than dropped. Then volume: hauling and disposing of debris is a real part of the job, and a heavy storm cleanup is mostly haul-off.
Get a price
Need tree and shrub care?
Call and describe it, or text photos of the job to the same number and we'll come back with a price. Quotes are free, and we'll tell you if it isn't worth doing.