Ousting the State Tree

We don't know if you've heard rumblings of this...I mean, most state news channels probably don't consider this breaking news or anything, but since we do trees we think it's pretty incredible, really.

Earlier this month, it was proposed that Utah change its state tree from the blue spruce to the quaking aspen.  Why, you ask?  That's a good question.  To be honest, I'd never heard of a state changing a state tree or a state anything else.

The reason for this change came when some fourth graders from Monroe Elementary School in Sevier County learned about the Pando clone located near Fish Lake in the Uintas.  Now, we get a lot of calls from homeowners complaining about how their aspens send up shoots all over their yard, but those have nothing on Pando.

Pando means "I spread" in Latin and was so named when it was discovered because scientists realized that hundreds of thousands of aspens were actually all part of the same root system (caused by the pando clone).  It's believed to be the largest living organism in the world and scientists believe it weighs nearly 13 million pounds!  It spreads over 106 acres and consists of an estimated 47,000 individual trees/stems. Talk about a big tree.

But the fourth graders didn't stop there.  Oh no, they had to throw in some serious figures.  The blue spruce accounts for less than 1% of the state's forest cover while the quaking aspen covers around 10% of the state.  It's also more ubiquitous than the blue spruce and can be found in many more areas.

So while it's been put to the Senate, these fourth graders have a pretty good chance of ousting the state tree and they have Governor Herbert and some pretty solid statistics to back them up.  Your children may be learning that their state has a completely different state tree than you did in when you were in grade school!

Choosing The Right Tree For Your Yard

Our job at Cutting Edge takes us all over Davis and Weber Counties.  As we travel through our neighborhoods and the surrounding areas, we often observe new home construction or yard landscape renovation projects that have been carelessly planned.  Many trees are planted too close to homes with the shape and eventual size of the tree completely disregarded.

We cannot reiterate enough how important it is to take several factors into consideration when it comes to planting new trees in your yard.  When it comes to tree planting, it's vital to put some forethought and planning into the layout of your yard.

Here's a quick guide to help you remember what you ought to think about before you decide to put that tree right there.  Yes, it might seem rudimentary and very basic, but if everyone considered these before they planted, I wouldn't waste my time writing this.

• Height.  Every tree will grow a different height, so make sure you understand just how tall that tree can grow before you decide to place it anywhere in your yard.  Make sure you're planting it far enough away from objects (i.e., your home, power lines, awnings, decks and patios, etc.) that could potentially come into conflict with it.

• Shape.  Every tree falls into a general shape category.  Some are columnar, oval, round, pyramidal, or V shaped.  The tree can't help it...that's just the shape it grows into naturally, so if anyone's going to compromise it ought to be you.

• Canopy spread.  Trees develop canopies of various sized spreads.  You'll definitely want to avoid planting a tree with a wide spread too close to your home or other objects.

• Your hardiness zone indicates the extreme temperatures that occur in your geographic location and can guide you to look for trees and plants that will thrive where you live.  You obviously don't want to pick a tree that won't do well where you're located.

• The soil type where you live ought to be factored in, as well as moisture and sun requirements.

If you're unsure what kind of tree to plant in your yard, or if you don't know if the location you had planned for your favorite tree is a good one, give Cutting Edge Tree Professionals a call.  We would love to help!

Remember, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.  Forethought and proper planning now will save yourself a huge headache and a dent in your pocketbook.  At Cutting Edge we believe in the propagation of trees and plants; after all they add so much beauty and value to our yards and neighborhoods.  But please remember to do so responsibly.

Don't forget to call Blue Stakes before you start to dig once you've decided on a tree and a location. 

Our Website Is Nearly Launched

We are so excited to announce that our newly designed website is nearly done and will shortly be launched.  We have had a great design team behind it and a lot of thought has gone into the design and content.  We hope you enjoy it and share it with your friends and tell them about us!

We will be able to have a gallery where we can feature jobs we've done in the past and show some great before and after pictures.  We will showcase our news coverage from the infamous wind storm of December 2011 that wreaked so much havoc in Davis County.  And of course we'll include our basic information and services provided.  We'd like to use this blog as an avenue to share tips, so stay tuned for some great information to come along, as well.

In the meantime, we've been busy!  We have been blessed with so many repeat clients who have continued to use our services, as well as referring us to their friends and neighbors.  We recently had the privilege of pruning an apple orchard for the second time in a few years with two different owners.  What are the chances of that?

Greg, Nathaniel, Doreen and Patrick

We are grateful for the growth we've experienced and we look forward to even more!  So please check back often to our URL and blog to find our new website and some fun posts!

Our Inaugural Blog Post

We are so excited to finally have a blog for our business to accompany our newly relaunched website!  We are anxious to use a platform that not only helps us keep up with the 21st century, but also caters more to imparting useful information as well as creating a dialogue we can use to chat back and forth.

Cutting Edge Tree Professionals was Seth's brainchild several years ago.  For years, he has been entrenched in the tree business from one angle or another, and so it seemed fitting that he would branch off (no pun intended, but I'm still chuckling) on his own and continue to work in an industry he loves so much.

Seth's grandfather and father owned the sawmill in Escalante, UT (which also happens to be one of the longest running sawmills in the state) for years and Seth grew up working there at a tender age.  His brother owned a logging company in Southern Utah, as well.  Seth worked long days of hard labor on the mountains of Southern Utah and Northern Arizona where he would wake up way before dawn and get home late at night, only to fall, exhausted, into bed after hurriedly getting in a hearty meal to recuperate.

These years served as valuable learning experiences for him that not only related to trees, but to life and the value of a hard day's work.  His passion for trees has continued throughout the years, and it has been fun to watch his fondness for trees grow into a business of our own.

Cutting Edge Tree Professionals is by no means a large company.  We have grown modestly over the past several years and we are blessed to have so many repeat clients who continue to use us year after year for their tree care needs.  To me, this speaks volumes, because while we may not be the largest or most well-known tree company in the Davis or Weber County areas, we are still doing something right if the people we have served before use us time and time again.  The relationships we have built over the past three years have made it possible for us to continue doing what we love to do, and so I want to say "Thank you" to everyone who has made this little dream of ours possible.  We couldn't have done it without you!