Sorry. To avoid politics and flames please read this one instead --

John Owens


Fax 44 1509 89 08 22
www.GoodViews.co.uk


Hello


I / We have a cupressus which is lovely but too high in parts. To be frank
we have to pay the gardener too much to trim it as he practically need
climbing gear and oxygen to reach it. (well at least a complex set of
ladders). We asked about reducing it by between 0.5-1.5 metres in parts.

Local advice is against it saying that we will kill it by doing so (it
resents being shortened ?).

My questions.

1) If that is true, what is the likely timescale of overall death ?
(e.g. 5 years before the bit below the cut is dead ?)

2) If that is partly true what is the advice trimming such a noble
beast down to size (e.g. best times of year, how much at one time ?)

3) How much do these things grow anyway ? e.g. If untended for three
years what happens ?

( the options a

a)uproot it and replace it with a fence,
with obvious short, medium and long term upkeep consequences

b)shorten it anyway and accept that a) would apply eventually (nn years ?)

c) shorten it and hope that a)might never apply

d) Let it get unkempt but infrequently rein it back in. )


And does anybody know of a facilities management newsgroup that might have
'average ' costs on hedging vs fencing ?



To add to complications. I am talking about the south of France where there
is more rain than the tourist board makes public, albeit patchy.
Also labour costs are about the same as UK but achieve less in a day
because of the heat.

However. Simple answers to the above would be a good starting point.

Cheers all

-
John Owens


Fax 44 1509 89 08 22
www.GoodViews.co.uk