Dan's Shrub and Hedge Service

     Now a year & a half after hiring Dan's Shrub & Hedge Service, my opinions have changed.  I would say that Dan's Shrub & Hedge Service would be best employed only for hedge trimming & light pruning of deciduous shrubs. I am very happy with their attention to detail on pruning my many hedges. They did a fabulous job on those. Most were very overgrown Portuguese Laurel that were probably 16 ft tall or more. They did a fabulous job on these.
     Unfortunately, I now regret hiring them for roof cleaning & tree pruning. I should have left it at what I hired them for, what they advertise for & what is obviously their area of expertise. While working on my hedges, Dan's Shrub & Hedge Service offered (on my doorstep) to do tree pruning & roof treatment.They said said they knew "Mags" (Magnolias). It took me by surprise as I had not solicited this work to be done. When confronted spur of the moment like I was, I made the mistake of not taking the time to make sure they knew what they were doing. I didn't seek references for their previous tree pruning or roof work.
    Dan's Shrub & Hedge Service did a very good job on my hedges, but I should never have hired them to prune my large Mt Fuji flowering cherry trees, a large beautiful Akebono cherry tree, large magnolias, flowering dogwood & Douglas Fir. These trees were beautiful before pruning & only in need of gentle shaping or none at all as it was true for a graceful pink dogwood. I just took them at their word as to their abilities. It seemed that they must be very able & skilled as they did a very precision-like hedge trimming.
    My original positive review was swayed by their eagerness & the affability of these obviously hard working men. They were friendly & obliging. It was surprising when they were finished, to see how extensive their pruning was. It seemed we had only sticks where there had been lush rounded tops. I had many visitors' mouth drop open in shock. Some of the cutting was not within sight & the surprises added up. The extent of the damage took a total dropping of leaves, the coming of new growth in the spring & time to realize what was lost. My original approval of all their work was short lived. The abrupt ends of flowering branches with non-producing woody ends sticking out & obvious bends in branches like 'bare elbows' with no leafy cover are disappointing & right at eye level.
    When the trees become more dormant, another referenced tree worker will come & attempt to soften the look of these trees. There was, also, no lasting effect of their blowing stuff off of my roof. I don't know if they ever put any moss retardant on the roof. It was mossy the next spring.
    Dan's Shrub & Hedge Service did an excellent job on my maybe 300 ft or more of Portuguese Laurel hedge & pruning large individual Portuguese  Laurels. That is their area of expertise.
    My changed rating of this company is only on the service they advertise for: Hedges & Shrubs. Otherwise the ratings would have to be "D".