Clippers and tree saws
once a year in the winter
one twig at a time
Pollarding – Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California
In between the De Young Museum and the California Academy of Sciences there is a fountain surrounded by Sycamore and Elm trees. Over the decades I have looked at these trees, always fascinated by their seemingly never changing shapes or sizes.
Last week I went to the De Young and was met with an inspiring and unexpected event… For the first time ever I got to watch workers pollard the trees to bring back their bare gnarly sculptural essence! This crew had already been pollarding for three weeks and there were still more trees to go.
Dancing to the Words 
Love the black and whites! The grapevines are being trimmed in our area. –Curt
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think those rows of trimmed grapevines are really trippy, especially the old gnarly ones. The way they vines weave together and interconnect.
LikeLike
A photographer could probably devote his life to photographing them, especially when they come with beautiful backdrops like the Napa Valley.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Very unusual and dramatic structure to these trees.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Fascinating and so labor intensive!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes this project is labor intensive. One of things I most enjoyed was the quiet. The workers only use hand tools on the trees and hand rakes on the ground to collect the twigs. That quiet was such a delight!
LikeLiked by 1 person