I saw a group of trees that have been topped at the Garden, but I thought that topping trees was bad for them. — Angela Groskopf, Park Ridge You may be referring to the group of sycamore trees planted ...

You either like the look of a tree that has been pollarded, or you do not. It's not a natural look. This time of year, a pollarded tree presents a trunk capped by a clubbed head, or a trunk with short ...

It's common to see leaves change color before falling away as autumn turns to winter in temperate regions, but if you find barren trees with branches chopped all the way to the trunk, this is likely ...

You either like the look of a tree that has been pollarded, or you do not. It's not a natural look. This time of year, a pollarded tree presents a trunk capped by a clubbed head, or a trunk with short ...

Pollarding is a type of severe pruning that results in a dense growth of branches at the pruning site instead of its naturally shaped crown. Last fall, I decided to pollard a catalpa tree to re-create ...

On a recent trip to southern France I was fascinated by what some people might term "tree abuse." The French love to turn certain trees into sculpted forms by removing all new growth each year -- or ...

Most arborists insist that pollarding is horticulturally incorrect. However, most of us who pollard trees in our home gardens are not arborists. Horticulturist Tony Tomeo can be contacted at ...

Last fall, I blogged about a catalpa sapling I pruned. The results of that pruning have been evolving through the summer. The tree is a wildling that just happened to sprout from seed along the west ...