Several weeks ago, a long limb from the nearest maple in the forest to the house crashed to the ground on a windy afternoon. This was a large branch that had formerly brushed the house in a breeze, but the arc of its fall took it further from the house. To my great relief, there was no damage.

The limb did not completely detach from twenty feet up into the tree, and by good fortune, it remained suspended just above branches of a Japanese maple, and no more than a foot off to the side of a pergola that would have been easily crushed. This is not the first time that a tree (or large branches) has crashed from the forest into the garden, and as luck would have it, none have resulted in significant damage.

The last time, when a tree came down in a December ice storm, my foolish effort to saw the trunk into pieces led to a visit to the emergency room to close a significant gash to my forehead. I insisted that the flowing blood looked worse than it really was, and the resulting scar would add character. My wife disagreed.

My concern this time was more over the Japanese maple than my own health (again), and I could not figure how to cut the branch while lifting at the same time so that the maple would not be injured. At least, I couldn’t figure how to do this by myself, so it was decided this problem would best be handled by professionals. And, along with the branch, there was another, larger branch, that arced far over the garden, also brushing the house, that would be removed at the same time.

Oh joy! Not only to remove a branch that one day could fall to crush the maple, or the pergola, but this will remove two branches that have cast a deepening shade in this part of the garden. While I’m happy for some portion of shade, branches from the forest increasingly arc to the open space of the garden, and a bit more sunlight will be appreciated.