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.