Never again will I look at trees the same way.

It all started the week before Thanksgiving last fall when our Tree Commission members viewed "Learning to Train Young Trees." It fits the thought that we continue to learn all of our lives. Knowledge and skills help us care for things.

Before Nov. 16, the word "leader" had not been in my vocabulary — not for trees anyway. John Rostash suggested that our commission members come early to the meeting to view a video on the topic. He believed that the trees along both sides of Sandusky Street from City Hall south to the hardware store were ready to be assessed for possible pruning. Arborists use the term "maintenance."

Four days later, on Saturday afternoon, we met in temperatures around freezing, bundled up. Like a "Ghostbusters" team, we were armed and only slightly dangerous. Brad Van Voorhis had a ladder, loppers and pruners. Val Spreng carried a hand saw and pruners. John Rostash had a pole pruner. As for me, I was the weakest link, taking some photos, making notes and cleaning up all trimmings and pruned branches to dispose of them later.

John carried notes of the five-step process. This guided us as we looked at the young trees. First, we were to remove broken and injured limbs and dead or dying branches. Step 2 — we needed to select that "leader" or the nearly or most vertical strong branch leaving the trunk in an upward manner. Some trees actually had limbs that were competing on the journey upward. We made group decisions on which was the more vertical. This selection gives the tree a chance to save and direct its energy. Selective growth helps it withstand the forces of nature so much better. 

Step 3 is to select the lowest permanent branch — one that will remain with the tree for its life. This branch must be vigorous, about half the girth of the trunk or a little less. Then branches around it are removed. This takes some thinking because this branch is determined by height from the street side for traffic and/or height from the sidewalk side for pedestrians.

OK, by now you are thinking, "Who cares?" We do. Planting trees in Bucyrus replaces many that were lost, harvested as unhealthy, adding a future full of green spaces. It is important for too many reasons. The investment in cost demands maintenance.

In Step 4, scaffold branches above that lowest permanent branch are viewed to develop spacings. Standing back to view helps, as does walking around the trunk to envision radial spacings at intervals. Eighteen inch spacings were suggested.

The lowest permanent branch guides Step 5, which is where you consider all growth below that point. Either prune shorter some temporary branches or remove them altogether.

If you are tired, imagine our three hours in the cold. Sure there were trees with distinct leaders. It was much easier to assess those which had already lost  their leaves. On trees still sporting foliage we just did our best. Winter dormancy was already underway; a slow growth period.

After cramming most of the trimmings into my tarp-lined car, darkness arrived. 

Armed with this new knowledge, I located the leader in my tri-colored beech where things are now under control.

Mary Lee Minor is a member of the Earth, Wind and Flowers Garden Club, an accredited master gardener, a flower show judge for the Ohio Association of Garden Clubs and a former sixth grade teacher.