Tall pine with orange upper bark and a full crown, standing behind a greenhouse and among other conifers — Tall pine with a reddish upper trunk standing above a garden greenhouse

Bare pine stem with short cut branch stubs standing above a fence, with conifers and a greenhouse around it — Pine reduced to a bare stem with cut stubs where the branches were

Upward view through the dark branches of a pine against a pale sky, with a broken branch in the crown — Looking up through the pine crown, with a split branch visible

This tree surgery project in Hall Green involved a tall pine at the back of a garden, close to a greenhouse and surrounded by other conifers and a birch. The photos follow it from the full crown, through the upper branches being taken off, to a bare stem with cut stubs still standing above the fence.

Taking a pine apart in stages

With a tree this tall and a greenhouse so close, there is no room to cut it low and let it fall. The crown is dismantled from the top, branch by branch, with each piece lowered to the ground. The second photo captures that stage, with the stem still upright and the cut stubs showing where the branches were taken off.

Pines carry a lot of weight in their upper branches, so removing those first makes the remaining trunk far easier to handle. Once the crown is gone, the stem itself can be taken down in shorter lengths, working steadily from the top. Every cut is planned so that the falling piece clears the greenhouse glass and the fences on either side.

What the photos show

The first and last photos are the same view, with the full pine crown above the garden and three people standing at the bottom of the frame. The third looks up through the crown, with one split branch visible among the foliage and other conifers crowding in on either side.

The work is still in progress in the second photo, so it does not show the finished garden. Before work like this begins, it is sensible to check for Tree Preservation Orders, think about the neighbouring trees and plan where the timber and green waste will go. Large pines also drop needles and cones, so the ground beneath is raked over once the work is finished.