Tree Service in Lakewood, OH

Tree Service in Lakewood is mostly about space, or the lack of it. The city packs 50,942 people (2020 Census) into about 5.5 square miles of land, a density over 9,000 per square mile, and most homes sit on narrow lots with a driveway on one side and a neighbor's house a few steps away on the other. A backyard maple in Lakewood may hang over three properties and a detached garage. Dropping a tree in one piece is rarely an option here, so most of what we do is careful climbing, roping limbs down in sections, and carrying brush out through a single gate.

A streetcar suburb with old trees

Lakewood became a village in 1889 and grew along streetcar lines on Detroit Avenue (1893), Clifton Boulevard (1903) and Madison Avenue (1916). Birdtown, built in the 1890s for National Carbon Company workers, is a National Register historic district, and Clifton Park in the northwest corner has large late-19th-century homes. Street names like Orchard Grove and Blossom Park are leftovers from the orchards that were here before the houses. The result is a city where many yard trees are as old as the homes, or were planted soon after, and where the roots of a big tree have had a century to work under walks, foundations and sewer laterals.

The city's own tree program

Lakewood's Forestry Unit inventories more than 13,100 trees on public property, including tree lawns and parks, with a certified arborist manager and four certified arborists on staff. A few details from its program shape what we see in private yards:

• Norway maple is the second most common species in the city inventory, with more than 1,100 trees. The city monitors them, sterilizes pruning tools between trees, and removes those that have lost more than a third of their canopy.
• Only 164 ash trees remain on public property, and the city treats them with insecticide injections once every three years.
• The city's diversity benchmark is no more than 30% of one family, 20% of one genus and 10% of one species, and every street has a planting plan.

The city also set a goal in 2022 of reaching 33% canopy within 12 years, and it has held Tree City USA status for more than four decades.

What that means behind your house

If the Norway maple in your yard is thinning at the top, has dead limbs scattered through the crown, or has roots wrapping around the base of the trunk, it is worth a look before it gets worse. Private ash that was never treated is likely dead or dying by now, and dead ash gets brittle, which makes the removal harder each year it stands. We tell you plainly which trees are worth pruning and which should come down.

Tree lawns and Lakewood Park

Trees in the tree lawn are part of the city inventory, so pruning or removal there is the city's call, not ours. If one of those trees is your concern, contact the city first; if a private tree overhangs it, we work around it carefully. Closer to the lake, wind off Lake Erie hits the north side of the city harder, and trees along the Rocky River valley on the west edge grow on slopes where a lean can matter more.

How a Lakewood job runs

1. We look at the tree, the access path and what sits under it: roofs, wires, the garage, the neighbor's fence. 2. You get a written estimate that names the trees, the method and the cleanup. 3. On the day, limbs come down on ropes where needed, and brush goes to the chipper at the street. 4. Stumps are ground if the estimate includes it, and the yard is raked. Call (216) 294-3085 to set up a visit. Get a free estimate