We are a four acre nursery / florist/ wildlife sanctuary / botanic garden in the mountains above Falkland BC.
25/01/2025
I've read about thirty or forty books about pruning in my life so far, and I expect to read several more before I myself am pruned, dumped on a compost heap somewhere, and slowly converted into plant food by various species of macro and microorganisms.
If you have read one or two (or forty) books about pruning, you will have noticed that every book recommends that you begin by pruning out the dead wood. The books will tell you that the dead wood serves no beneficial purpose, and that dead wood is an entry point for disease and potential insect attack.
However, reality tells us a very different story, and I would argue that dead wood in a tree serves many beneficial purposes. I am fairly certain that the sixty-two Cedar Waxwings perched on the dead branches of the Cottonwood tree in the accompanying photograph would agree with me.
Most of the branches of this Cottonwood are alive and healthy, but quite a few are dead. And it is interesting that the Waxwings, who have been flocking around here for the last few weeks while they slowly devour this winter's abundance of Juniper and Mountain Ash berries, invariably choose to perch on the dead branches.
I can't tell you why they choose to do this. They are a tight-lipped lot, clannish and aloof, and refuse to answer my questions no matter how politely I phrase them.
Regardless, I expect to find dozens of young Juniper and Mountain Ash seedlings underneath the dead branches of the Cottonwood this coming summer, and that suggests to me that there are at least two good reasons for not pruning the dead branches. There are probably many more.
