Reading a Garden

My architectural training taught me how to create construction documents that are clear, precise and easy to read. But if you have never been taught how to read a floor plan, or read the trail of symbols indicating where to find specific details, those drawings could seem like a different language. Just like it would be difficult to read a topographic map or x-ray with no training.

When someone asks about advanced pruning skills I often steer them towards refining their ability to read a garden. Someone can have perfect technical skills or see themselves as an artist but advanced pruning comes from bringing out the best in a garden, not just our ideal vision for a singular tree.

If you can read a garden you can tap into the designer’s intent and prune to make it a reality or recognize the garden’s mood or character and prune to emphasize a feeling. If you can read a garden you can tell the story through movement, obfuscation or revealing the essence of a unique focal specimen.

Reading a garden will inform how woody plants relate to and compliment structures, pathways or art.

If you read the garden then you know not every tree should receive the same pruning treatment and falling back on habits or blindly following a technique will lead to a tree that looks out of context or even worse, damage a tree with a special meaning.

The skill of reading a garden enables me to prune for the role the tree plays in telling the story of that garden. Telling a story through my pruning choices is one of the hallmarks of the aesthetic pruning approach. It adds a layer of complexity and understanding to the standard pruning approach focused only on health and safety.

I often have a hard time reading the room but reading a garden resonates with me as part of a design approach that includes more than just technical skills but an understanding of how humans use, see and feel a space.

To learn more about reading a garden and other key concepts of the aesthetic pruning approach, check out the Aesthetic Pruners Association Pruning Guide.

Going ons

Pruning Conifers for Health and Aesthetics.

I will be teaching this in-person class covering topics such as conifer biology, seasonal rhythms, techniques to maintain health and size and enhancing landscape aesthetics through thoughtful pruning.

Licensed landscapers can earn 2 CEU

October 31st, 1:00-3:00 (Still plenty of time to celebrate Halloween!)

$45.00

Register with the  Gresham Japanese Garden here.

APA Tree Talk: Line, Composition and Trees: A Conversation about Art Concepts and Pruning

The Aesthetic Pruners Association

Sunday, November 8th, 2026 on Zoom

3:00- 5:00pm

Expert pruners and fine artists Michael Alliger, Diana Chamberlain and Eric King will converse about how art concepts inform their pruning and art as pruning inspiration.

Register with the Aesthetic Pruners Association here.

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