Homeowner devastated by inexplicable damage caused by landscaper: 'We came home to this'

Imagine asking your barber for a trim and getting a buzzcut instead. Now, imagine that your hair might never grow back. A similar nightmare is facing a Houston homeowner who hired a landscaper to trim the two live oak trees in their front yard. 

When the resident arrived home, they discovered that the landscapers had cut huge gashes in the tree limbs, making the trees susceptible to disease and threatening their long-term survival.

The homeowner shared the story on Reddit, posting an image of two bare tree trunks. Healthy, untrimmed live oaks are visible in the background. 

"We have a landscaper we use to do our lawn maintenance and annually I send him a photo to trim our trees and he ends up making them a cute lollipop circle," the poster wrote. "This year … We came home to this!!!"

"Need advice on next steps," the OP continued. "Should we bite the bullet and pay for a new tree in the spring or can these trees be saved?!"

Commenters sounded off on the dangers of this extreme method of pruning, known as "topping." Some people remove large amounts of leaves and branches from their trees in an attempt to prevent them from growing tall, but the practice doesn't work. Instead, it often winds up killing the trees.

The top commenter suggested that the homeowner's trees were beyond repair. "The proper way to fix this is for them to pay someone that knows what they're doing to replace them," the user wrote.

Topping is harmful because it dramatically alters a tree's structure. Leaves provide a tree with energy. Since topping tends to remove a lot of a tree's leaves, it puts the tree at risk of starving. Without a canopy to protect them from the sun, the exposed branches can get sunburned. Lastly, the large gashes in a topped tree can provide an entryway for harmful organisms that can cause decay.

Trees provide us with the oxygen we breathe, but that's not all. They also help keep cities cool, prevent flooding, and promote biodiversity. Simply being around trees has been shown to improve people's physical and mental health.

Luckily, planting trees isn't the only thing homeowners can do to ensure their lawns give back to the environment. Simply installing a few native plants can make your lawn a friendlier place for the pollinators that protect the global food supply. Native plant lawns can also save time and money on lawn maintenance. And, since they tend to be less water-intensive than grass, you can expect a lower water bill, too.

What's the hardest thing about taking care of your yard? Mowing the lawn 🏡 Controlling weeds 🌿 Keeping pests at bay 🐿️ I don't have a yard 🤷 Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.

There are endless options for beautiful, low-maintenance lawn replacements, from clover and buffalo grass to xeriscaped gardens that eliminate the need for watering. Even a partial lawn replacement can allow homeowners to reap these benefits.

The OP will likely have to wait several years for the trees to recover or for new trees to grow in their place, and commenters had plenty to say about it. 

"Topping trees should be a crime," wrote one. 

"With a LOT of monitoring and care, the new growth can be managed and the tree brought back," advised another. 

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