Happy Trees Are Easy to Maintain
August 2025. By JT Wilkinson: There are so many reasons to love the Veloz property. Every time I visit, the deep tree canopy drops my shoulders. That’s more than the natural response to its beauty and the cool temperatures they create. These happy trees need little work.
Here’s what maintenance looks like where trees are planted in the right place with enough space.
The canopy in the front garden includes towering pines. Notorious for dropping an abundance of quick-drying needles, these beauties are surprisingly low maintenance due to their location. Because needles fall on the lawn and meadow, they tend to quickly decompose. In their high-drop moments, we may rake out the meadow understory. Our teams and the homeowners combined need to sweep the front patio just a few times a month to keep it litter-free. A trained arborist structurally prunes the trees only for their own health and structure on at 3-5 year schedule.
The towering trees near the top of the back and side slopes need slope supporting understory. This can take a little effort – we watch for any slope slippage and make sure this critical foliage in great shape. The trees themself need to be pruned for their health every 3-5 years. Sometimes, we’ll ask arborists to let a little more light through during those engagements.
While they are closer to the home, at no time do the branches or roots of the patio trees engage it. As a result, these trees are on the same 3-5 year prune schedule as the rest. We sweep more often here to keep hardscapes clear of leaves, especially the 5-feet closest to the home. Because the Veloz family enclosed the home’s gutters, litter doesn’t collect there. In foliage beds, we leave the leaves, then cover them with compost-grade mulch to speed decomposition and ensure the garden always looks clean.
Throughout the garden, all the trees receive a deep hand water once a month through summer. We schedule tree pruning on a schedules that match trees preferences and protect any nests. That’s it. Easy, breezy, Allstate and wildfire ready.
