Tree Service in The Beaches, Toronto

The Beaches is our home patch — we are based just up the hill in the Upper Beaches, so this is the neighbourhood we know best and can usually reach fastest.

The tree stock here is old. Much of the housing went up between the 1900s and the 1920s and the silver maples and Norway maples planted alongside it are now well into maturity. Silver maple in particular grows fast, gets very large, and has notoriously brittle wood — a combination that produces a lot of the limb failures we get called to along the lakeside streets.

Wind is the other factor. Properties south of Queen catch weather coming off the lake with little to break it, and trees that have grown up sheltered on one side often shed limbs when a neighbouring tree comes down and exposes them.

What makes work here different

• Very narrow lots. Many Beaches houses sit metres apart with no driveway, so everything comes out through a walkway or over the roof on ropes.
• Rear laneway access where it exists is a real advantage — tell us if you have it, because it can change the price.
• Large protected trees are the norm. A mature Beaches maple is almost certainly over the 30 cm by-law threshold, so plan for the permit conversation.
• Sandy soil near the lake drains fast, which stresses trees in dry summers and shows up as early leaf drop and thin crowns.

We work regularly around Kew Gardens, Balmy Beach, Queen Street East and the streets running down to the boardwalk.