We have only hired someone to prune our trees once and it was not a good experience (it was Moon Valley Nursery and arborists don't think highly of them). After the bad experience (and losing our 12 year old plum), I decided when we needed service again I'd get recommendations from a local arborist group on Facebook, and SavATree was recommended as well as a few others. I reached out to three and SavATree was the only one to respond. They're very prompt with responses. Julie in the office was very helpful, and the arborist Roy was extremely knowledgeable and happy to educate us on what our Arizona Ash Tree needs, and what was the likely cause of the die off we were seeing (suspected herbicide poisoning). The cost was higher than anticipated (close to double what Moon Valley charged) but we trusted Roy. He put together a treatment plan which included pruning, soil remediation and fertilizer. Two guys came out to do the actual pruning and they were great. Very nice and thorough. They thoughtfully removed competing branches for the health of the tree. They spent much longer and took off much more than Moon Valley did. Being December, its leaves were dropping quite a bit, and even shook out while they were in it cutting. They were so sweet to blow and haul away the leaves. That was unexpected and very much appreciated. They said since we gave them water they were happy to do it. (A good reminder that it pays to be kind to one another.) We had them remove the stump from our dead purple plum as well and they were careful to remove the river rock from the tree well first so they wouldn't get buried in the hole. The team that does the fertilizer treatments is very nice and knowledgeable as well. Our only criticism is that the fertilizer scheduling system doesn't let you choose a timeframe. That probably works for businesses and homes where the trees are in the front yard, and for some people if they don't have a dog in the back yard or need to allow access through the house as we do, but for us, a specific time (or window) is needed in order to let them into the yard. We don't plan to do the fertilizer indefinitely so we'll deal with it for a few months but it would be nice if their system was more accommodating. We'll definitely keep going to them for all of our tree pruning needs and recommending them to others. I can't wait to see our ash when the leaves come back. I can tell the shape and structure is going to make it even more beautiful! Pictures are from early November when it was still green, and after the pruning late December. read more