I have an old silver maple tree in my front yard. The tree is just shy of 60 years old. Having lived here for almost 40 years, every milestone picture has been taken by it. First day of school (every year, with all 3 children), various girlfriends and boyfriends, proms, graduations, you name it. The tree has been a family member itself. It even took a lightning strike many years ago. This spring we noticed half of the leaves turning black. It broke our hearts but I had to get estimates to remove the tree. I had several companies come out and all were pretty close in price. Only one person offered up information about the black leaves. He said the tree wasn't dying and would rebound. He said it's a shame to loose the shade and memories. He offered to quote a price to cut back the tree remove dead branches and put flexible cables to secure the large branches allowing us to save our tree. The crew arrived and went right to work. A pop up thunderstorm ended the day short. They stayed at it longer than they should have. There was high winds, heavy rain and lightning. They return a few days later and finished the job. The tree looks much better now and will continue to provide shade and memories. read more