Pittock Mansion Pruning

I went to volunteer at the gardens at Pittock Mansion this morning with the intention of doing battle with the re-emerging Vinca, but it turned out to be pruning day.

We had a nice array of weaponry at our disposal to address the DDDDD's of pruning: Dead, Dying, Diseased, Damaged, Disoriented.

The tools were pretty new to me, but it didn't take long to get the hang of them. Pole mounted tools sure beat having to use ladders to get close to everything. Though they also had some nice 3-point orchard ladders for getting up high enough to clean up the crowns. A chain saw on a stick is a beautiful thing.

After working on three of the cherry trees, I spend a little bit of time starting to clean up a pretty scraggly little fellow....