POLLARDING is an ancient skill. It involves removing much of the upper part of a tree. The purpose is to make it safe, keep it at a predetermined height or induce it to grow in a more useful way. Most frequently, the practice means cutting the tree severely back to a stump, typically 5ft or 6ft from the ground. It responds with thick new growth of leaves and branches. Once you start to notice pol-larded trees, you find that they are many more than you supposed.
British planning authorities use the word ‘pollarding’ to describe the high pruning of established trees. The limbs of a beech in danger of dropping its branches may, therefore, be cut back at as high as 40ft to lighten the tree’s load and reduce its vulnerability to wind. The correct word for this method of thinning the canopy
