Expert Tree Care Led by a Board Certified Master Arborist

Pruning & Removal Services

"Proper pruning is one of the best things that can be done for a tree; Improper pruning is one of the worst things that can be done to a tree". - Dr. Alex Shigo

Pruning Services

At Arbor Viridis, we don’t just “cut branches.” We perform architectural and structural pruning designed to enhance a tree’s natural beauty while ensuring its long-term safety and stability. Every cut is made with surgical precision, guided by ISA standards and a deep understanding of tree biology.

Trees, like people, have different needs at different stages of life: infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age. In a tree's early life, it is crucial to promote strong growth and proper form. As the tree matures, it becomes more challenging to influence its growth patterns, so the focus shifts to maintaining a stable structure. When a tree reaches old age, the objective is to minimize factors that could lead to its decline and eventual death. The ultimate aim is to ensure that trees live a long time.

8 Reasons NOT to Top your Trees!

Young Tree Pruning Services

The best time to safeguard a tree’s future is while it is young. By properly training a juvenile tree, we prevent costly structural issues—such as co-dominant stems—before they develop.

Goal: Establish a strong central leader with well-spaced, structurally sound branches.
Result: A healthy, storm-resilient mature tree that requires significantly less corrective pruning and maintenance over its lifetime.

Fruit Tree Pruning Services

Fruit trees require a specific balance of shoot growth and fruit production. Drawing on years of experience in the Okanagan Valley, Brandon brings expert techniques to Ontario orchards and backyard gardens alike.

Goal: Distribute fruitwood evenly and maximize sunlight penetration.
Result: Higher yields of better-quality fruit and a tree that doesn't break under the weight of its own crop.

FRUIT TREE PRUNING

Mature Tree Pruning Services

Mature trees are less tolerant of heavy pruning. We use a "low-intensity" approach—removing no more than 10% of the live canopy—to maintain health without causing shock.

Goal: Crown cleaning (removing dead/diseased wood), minor thinning for airflow, and weight reduction.
Result: Reduced risk of limb failure and extended life for your property’s greatest living assets.

PRO TIP: It is better to remove a small amount of live foliage often than to remove a large amount all at once.

Hedging Services

For hedges and shrubs that require a formal, highly controlled appearance without compromising long‑term plant vitality, we employ pruning techniques grounded in plant physiology and growth dynamics. Our approach emphasizes the use of precision tools to create sharp, uniform lines and well‑defined architectural forms while maintaining adequate foliage density for sustained photosynthesis.

By selectively removing terminal and lateral shoots in accordance with species‑specific growth habits, we stimulate the development of dense, finely branched canopies and encourage balanced apical dominance. Cut placement is carefully planned to minimize wound size, optimize compartmentalization (CODIT principles), and reduce the risk of pathogen entry. We also account for factors such as bud orientation, internode length, and light penetration to ensure even growth throughout the hedge profile, preventing thinning, interior dieback, and sunscald.

This scientifically guided methodology allows us to deliver consistently crisp, formal hedge lines and refined shrub silhouettes, while supporting root–shoot balance, maintaining structural integrity, and promoting the overall health, vigour, and longevity of the planting.

Tree Removal

The Last Resort

Most tree removals can be avoided with proper Plant Health Care and Structural Support. However, when a tree becomes an unmanageable hazard, we provide safe, technical removals.

Safety First: We use advanced rigging techniques to protect your home and landscape.
Fully Insured: Professional removal is a high-risk activity that should only be handled by certified experts.

8 Reasons NOT to TOP your Tree

1. Starvation: Good pruning practices rarely remove more than one-fourth of the crown, which in turn does not seriously interfere with the ability of the tree's leafy crown to manufacture food. Topping removes so much of the crown that it upsets an older tree's well-developed crown-to-root ratio and temporarily cuts off its food-making ability.

2. Shock: A tree's crown is like an umbrella that shields much of the trees from direct rays of the sun. By suddenly removing this protection, the remaining bark tissue is so exposed that sun scalding may result. There may also be a dramatic effect on the neighbouring trees and shrubs. If the tree thrives in shade and the shade is removed, poor health or death may result.

3. Insects and Disease: The large stubs of a topped tree have a difficult time forming callus. The terminal location of these cuts, as well as their large diameter, prevent the trees' chemically based natural defence system from doing its job. The stubs are highly vulnerable to insect invasion and the spores of fungi. If decay is already present in the limb, the opening will speed the spread of the disease.

4. Weak Limbs

At best, the wood of the new limb that sprouts after a larger limb is truncated is more weakly attached than a limb that develops more normally. If rot exists or develops at the severed end of the limb, the weight of the sprout makes a bad situation even worse.

5. Tree Death

Some older trees are more tolerant of topping than others. Beech trees, for example, do not sprout rapidly after severe pruning, and the reduced foliage most surely will lead to the death of the tree.

6. Ugliness

A topped tree is a disfigured tree. Even with its regrowth, it never regains the grace and character of its species. The landscape and the community are robbed of a valuable asset.

7. Rapid New Growth

The goal of topping is usually to control the height and spread of the tree. Actually, it has the opposite effect. The resulting sprouts (called water sprouts) are far more numerous than normal growth, and they elongate so rapidly that the tree returns to its original height in a very short time and with a far denser crown.

8. Cost

To a worker with a saw, topping a tree is much easier than applying the skill and judgment of good pruning. Therefore, topping may cost less in the short run. However, the true costs of topping are hidden. These costs include reduced property value, the expense of the removal and replacement if the tree dies, the loss of other trees and shrubs, if they succumb to changed light conditions, the risk of liability from weakened branches, and increased future maintenance.

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