I don’t know about you but each year gardening brings new joy and excitement. Whether it’s the first green shoots of the daffodil plants or the fresh pink blush of the peach blossom, it reminds me of a new cycle in life. It’s as if God cleans the slate and starts over fresh. With a relieved sigh we shake off the cold of winter and embrace the start of warmer days.
Gardening is rich in valuable lessons we can apply to life. Win and I started pruning our trees this past month and it reminded me of how important pruning is in our personal lives.
Gardeners and arborists have known for thousands of years that judicious pruning is essential to the health of trees. This is especially true if your trees are intended to produce fruit. Pruning is necessary throughout the life of your tree but is especially important for young trees. Trying to prune a tree which has been left to grow for years without care can be a traumatic experience and in some cases can kill the tree.
Pear Tree – Before Pruning
Some of the reasons for pruning a tree include:
*Shaping the tree for optimal exposure to the life giving rays of the sun.
*Removing excessive and non productive growth which can divert the tree’s limit resources.
*Removing dead wood. (Deadwood is often the result of insufficient care.)
*Improving the overall health of the tree
*Increase the quality and yield of the tree’s fruit.
It does not take much imagination to see that the above reasons apply equally as well to our own lives. A good gardener prunes his trees throughout the year but how often do we remove the excessive growth, suckers, and deadwood from our personal lives? This is doubly important for the little trees in our personal gardens. Pruning is essential if we want our little trees to grow up strong and healthy, someday producing good fruit.
Little trees left untended will grow hundreds of small competing branches that never reach the true potential and majesty of a tree. Rather they are relegated to the status of a stunted bush full of deadwood, tangled untrained branches, and small fruit.
Pear Tree – After Pruning
The pear tree above is three years old and has been pruned each years since it was planted. As you can see in just one year the tree grew so much it has small branches growing everywhere. Each year and sometime during the year we prune back the excessive growth, focusing the growth of the tree through a central trunk and four main lower branches. As the tree grows, these main branches will provide the structure for future growth. It will also provide a frame strong enough to support itself when the tree begins to produce fruit.
One of the most important jobs of a wise arborist, when nurturing a young tree, is to encourage the growth of just a few branches most likely to benefit the future development of that tree. No matter what kind of gardener you are, pruning helps the trees in your garden reach their full God given potential.
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