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By LAURIE ANNE BROWN
Rappahannock Newa Contributing Writer
Lyt Wood, local forester and arborist, will present a one-day workshop on “The Art of Pruning” at Washington’s Town Hall on Saturday, March 30.
Mr. Wood, who has conducted similar workshops at Virginia’s State Arboretum at Blandy Farm, says that participants “will approach the task of pruning as a creative process.”
“A tree is a living being in its own right,” Mr. Wood explains. “It is striving towards its own ultimate form and it has its own needs that are quite apart from our own desires. Willfully changing its shape is something to be undertaken very seriously and respectfully.”
Mr. Wood asserts that the tree itself “has nothing at all to do with our own whims and prejudices. It is not easy, but absolutely important that we avoid projecting these things onto the living plant during the pruning process.”
Yet it is possible to prune in this way, he says, without any sacrifice in fruit production or other practical benefits. Truly successful and creative pruning begins with the effort to perceive exactly what the tree really is. This approach will allow the tree to develop a form that appears more natural than the average orchard tree. The objective of the artist who is pruning, he says, “is to enhance the tree’s own natural tendency to develop a form that is sturdy and functional.”
An examples that illustrate the effects of conventional pruning which he describes as “reactionary,” Mr. Wood draws attention to the hundreds of trees around the county in lawns, in orchards and under power lines that have been “topped.” ‘Topping is one way to i control tree height,” he says. But this method of height control is only temporary; trees that survive this treatment will invariably sprout and
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