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[avril darker]

I have what I think is a very tall cpress tree. My neighbour said it was blocking sun light, so I asked a tree surgeon, if he could reduce it in size by about a third. He just chopped the top right off like an egg, no shaping. I was disgusted. The outside foliage is now starting to brown a little. I’m wondering if it might die or are they pretty hardy. Is there anything I can do to help it

[arrinoD]

Oh my oh my, that was a drastic job!!! More like a tree butcher than a tree surgeon!

[leila handy]

Hi Avril, I’m sorry you’re going through this… It seems your tree surgeon just complied with the “make it short” request.

All those trunks in the middle? They won’t bud again, since they’re already cut back to the point where there isn’t any greenery on them any more. Cypress doesn’t grow new shoots from bare stems: it needs live stems further up to keep sap running. So those middle trunks will just dry up and die.

All around the rim, most of the branches lost over 2/3rds of their greens. This reduces sap circulation again, and it has a harder time adjusting, hence the brownish color. I think they might not die off, but some portions might. In any case, you’re stuck with a ring of cypress that won’t ever grow back into a single, narrow shape.

For me, here are your options:

• try to trim and shape the tree into a large ball, but it’ll take years till it looks really nice
• another option is to select one, two or three of the smaller, still-green branches along the rim and remove all the others. These remaining ones you can prune and trim every year (like topiary), and probably next year already you’ll have something that looks like three miniature cypress trees standing next to each other. Perhaps set a bird bath and/or feeder in the middle, resting atop some of the center stems.
• along the same line of thought, carve out one half of the shrub and keep an arc to a side, which you can trim like a short, circular hedge. In the space left behind place an ornament or planks to form a bench.
• last option is to dig the whole thing out and replace it with a fresh new tree… which you’ll have to keep small so it doesn’t bother neighbors this time round!

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