Quick answer
Yes, we work all over Germantown. A lot of what we do here is at the curb: pruning younger street trees planted by neighbors and taking care of the permit Parks and Recreation requires first. Behind the houses it is a different job, with older lots, parks such as Vernon Park close by and larger trees that sometimes need to come down.
Young street trees on East Tulpehocken Street
Germantown Tree Tenders, backed by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, a local watershed partnership and Awbury Arboretum, planted an estimated 20 street trees in 2012, and residents of East Tulpehocken Street asked for more. Citywide, TreePhilly has handed out free yard trees since 2012 and passed 25,000 by fall 2020.
Trees planted in that wave are now at the age where a few cuts set their shape for decades. Structural pruning on a young tree removes competing leaders and low limbs that would block the sidewalk later, and it costs far less than fixing a bad fork on a mature tree.
Typical tree work for Germantown homes
Street trees at the curb and old trees out back make up most Germantown jobs.
- Young Tree Structural PruningNewer street trees get one clear leader and a raised canopy before bad forks set in.
- Street Tree RemovalA dead or failing curb tree is removed under a Parks and Recreation permit, then the stump is ground.
- Crown Raising & Clearance PruningLow limbs over the sidewalk and parked cars get lifted to give walkers and trucks clearance.
- Large Tree RemovalTall yard trees close to stone walls come down in rigged sections, lowered away from the masonry.
Old houses along Germantown Avenue
Germantown was founded in 1683 and joined Philadelphia in 1854. Its main street, Germantown Avenue, runs about two miles northwest from Windrim and Roberts avenues, and 18th-century houses such as Cliveden, built 1763 to 1767, and Woodside, from about 1797, still stand along it.
Across the city, about 40.3 percent of homes were built before 1940, against about 22 percent in the wider region. On lots that old, trees often stand closer to the house than anyone would plant one today. When one of those has to go, it comes out in small, rigged pieces so the masonry is not touched.
Yards beside Wister's Woods, Awbury and the Wissahickon
Germantown borders the 1,400-acre Wissahickon Valley Park and Wister's Woods Park, and it is dotted with smaller parks: Vernon, Carpenter, Clifford, Cliveden, Fernhill, Howell and Loudoun. Awbury Arboretum, a 55-acre English landscape-style estate formally set up in 1916, holds a State Champion river birch.
With that much green next door, many yards have big trees on or near the property line. We work on the trees that are yours, and a large tree near the house comes down a section at a time.
The permit for the tree at your curb
A Germantown street tree grows in the public right-of-way. You own it, but the city holds jurisdiction, and Parks and Recreation manages planting, pruning and removal. Parks and Recreation only prunes mature street trees and removes dead or hazardous ones, so most other work falls to the owner.
If you hire a contractor instead, they need a tree work permit from Parks and Recreation Street Tree Management before cutting. Our permit guide lays out the steps.
Germantown tree questions
If it has been in the ground a few years, probably. Early cuts fix double leaders and low limbs while they are small, which saves bigger work later.
They prune mature street trees and remove dead or hazardous ones. Shaping a younger tree is usually left to the owner, through a permitted contractor.
Yes, in most cases. It is cut from the top in small pieces, each tied and lowered so nothing swings into the wall or roof.
We trim and remove trees standing on your property. Trees on the park side are city land and need the city's say.
More Northwest and West Philadelphia areas
Curb tree or yard tree in Germantown?
Call us and describe it. We will tell you what it needs and take care of the permit if it sits in the sidewalk strip.