KARKS TREE SVC

Last week my nextdoor neighbor asked me if this tree company could have permission to pull (what had been described to her as ) a small machine - a cherry picker - into my driveway so as to reach and trim the limbs of the very tall silver maple in her backyard. I agreed. She said someone would call and talk to me about this. When this person, Mike, called, I told him it was okay to pull into the left hand side of my driveway (nearest my neighbor's house) as that would still leave room for me to back out one car. He said that in turn he would do me a favor and do some trimming on my tree, the one that was next to my neighbor's property. I have no tree next to my neighbor's property, so I didn't know what he was talking about. He said he would be over the next day at 10:30 AM, so it seemed that we would work out the misunderstanding then. He didn't come the next day, nor did he return my call when I left a message on his cell phone wondering where he was. That was at the end of the week. On Monday I returned from running errands to find workmen from this company with their vehicles parked in front of my neighbor''s house (she was at work) and mine. They had already been at work and then I realized what they meant by "doing me a favor and trimming up my tree a bit". I have a tree that sits, not on the property line with my neighbor, but on the other side of my very wide driveway. Limbs of the tree arch over my driveway from one side to the other. In order to pull the cherry picker (it was not a small, but a rather large truck) far enough up the driveway to work on the maple, they had removed four limbs from my tree! I had given permission for them to park their vehicle in my driveway, but not to remove four limbs from my tree in order to do so! The man on the crew seemed completely unphased by my unhappy reaction to this fait accompli, and even offered to cut the other side of the tree to "even it up"! No one who was on site for this job, either to give an estimate or else to do the work, seemed to know that my tree is a mulberry tree. I could have explained this to Mike if he had kept his appointment or at least returned my phone call. The limbs of a mulberry tree are very flexible, and could probably have been lifted or brushed aside to move in the cherry picker. And if that would not have been possible, I could have given them permission to shorten some of the limbs a bit to open up the left side of the driveway for them. As it happened, they cut these lengthy limbs, not just back enough to make room for the truck on the far side of the driveway, but completely back to the trunk of the tree!

Mike is dependable, talented and very inexpensive given his expertise. He spends quite a bit of time examining the project beforehand and discusses what the owner wants. He trims a tree like an ice sculptor tackling a large piece of ice. Each branch is examined before it is trimmed. He also keeps an eye out for any other "trouble spots" on the tree that cannot be seen from the ground. He makes sure the tree branches are "balanced" -- not only for appearance, but also to ensure that the tree can withstand high winds, etc. He typically comes with a helper who removes the debris and puts it in the "chipper." When Mike and his team are done, not only does the tree look fabulous, but debris is raked up and put in the chipper.