Trees and shrubs have put on a lot of growth this spring. I’ve noticed that I’m having to duck to mow under the trees in my yard and when I go walking, many of the branches hanging over the sidewalk have put on enough growth that I find myself dodging them as I walk by as well. It's not my place to cut back the trees over the sidewalk although I wish I could, especially that one limb that hits me in the face no matter how well I try to dodge or duck away from it.

As for the limbs on the trees in my yard, I will cut them back. I find it’s best to cut the part that is hanging down too low back to where it branches off in another direction. This way I don’t leave a little stub to poke me in the eye when the branch starts hanging low again.

The same goes for hedges that have begun to grow out into the walkway. I prefer not to use the hedge trimmers because that leaves a lot of stiff branches with sharp ends. I prefer to take my time and remove the offending branch back to a side branch inside the plant where it won’t leave a stiff sharp branch to scratch my arm if I get too close to the plant while walking by it in the future. It takes more time to prune a hedge this way, but I like the look much better and I feel much safer.

While pruning the low hanging limbs, I’ll also look the plants over to see if there are any dead limbs that need to be removed. I would rather remove them myself than have the wind do it for me.