A HUGE pendulous Japanese maple is shown here before it received some much-needed attention. Pruning to Perfection owner LeAnn Spicer’s daughter, Hannah, now 13, is also shown. Photo courtesy of LeAnn Spicer
AFTER SEVERAL hours of work, 13-year-old Hannah and mother LeAnn Spicer, owner of Pruning to Perfection, sculpted this Japanese maple back to its intended shape. Photo courtesy of LeAnn Spicer
From the time she was small, Pruning to Perfection owner LeAnn Spicer has enjoyed gardening. Growing up in Portland, her mom encouraged Spicer in the wilds of their small urban yard.
As a Battle Ground High School freshman, Spicer signed up for Horticulture 1-2 and credits her instructor, Tim Hicks, with further cultivating her interest in plants and becoming a member of the FFA Horticulture Team. With his encouragement, she won first place her senior year in the National FFA Nursery/Landscape Contest held in Kansas City, Missouri at the 1980 Fall National FFA Convention.
Spicer’s business, Pruning to Perfection, was born out of the pruning skills taught by Hicks and honed in real-life projects like pruning around the campus and taking paid pruning jobs around North Clark County. The money earned was used for such outings as a class trip to Vancouver B.C. to visit the internationally-acclaimed Butchart Gardens.
The majority of Spicer’s jobs come by word of mouth. She also hosts an annual pruning class in Clark County, an event she’s offered for the past 30 years. In the class, she teaches eager students many of the techniques she has learned throughout her career. In the past, she has taught this class at her parents’ bonsai nursery, Daybreak Gardens, but in recent years she’s partnered with the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon.
Spicer classifies pruning as an art and a science. Cutting into a living thing is not without consequences. Through her meticulous attention to detail she considers the shape and growing needs of every tree she works with as well as the way in which each tree “heals’’ from being pruned.
According to Spicer, many homeowners who attempt to prune their own trees use inexpensive or dull tools, leaving poor cuts that invite disease that further damages the tree. She points out that too many bushes are located incorrectly in yards and chopped several feet each year as a result.
“A rhododendron whose mature size is eight feet tall, but was planted right under your eave and below a window – when it was cute and little – will never look graceful or purposeful if you have to whck it down to four feet every year,” Spicer said.
Knowing how to prune will protect a homeowner’s investment of their landscaping dollars. Short of that, knowing a true professional in the landscaping industry with a proven track record for consistent quality is advisable.
All six of Spicer’s children have worked or do work with her. For each child, at the age of seven, Spicer began training them on the basics of pruning and their skills evolved with age and the greater responsibilities that Spicer entrusted to them. Her youngest child is 13 and Spicer stands behind their work as confidently as she stands behind her own.
To that end, Spicer will train homeowners in the art and science of pruning while they work alongside her in their own yard, if that’s something an area resident desires to do. Her patience and love of plants makes her an amicable and skilled instructor.
The shape and appearance of ornamental trees can be accented and improved upon with regular, conservative pruning, according to Spicer and fruit trees will yield larger crops and more quality fruit with some time invested in pruning them wisely, as well.
“In order to produce optimally in this climate of sometimes less-than-ideal sunshine, they do need to be consistently and annually directed-and redirected,’’ Spicer said. “So, once the main structure of the trees has been corrected or established, it is important to make sure that the annual pruning is consistent, so that the progress that has been made is not lost.”
Spicer offers her services as a consultant, as well, at a minimum of one hour appointments and can haul yard debris away for an additional charge. Her main focus is on fruit trees, bushes, vines and ornamentals.
Pruning to Perfection can be reached at (360) 991-1920 or regalrabbits@gmail.com. The pruning class organizer at the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon can be reached at marianneprather@hotmail.com.
