need help with pruning several trees

hi there folks. i have always loved davesgarden.com for its abundance of information. so after looking for help on craigslist, the next thing i thought i would do is look here. since everyone here is into gardening, and on craigslist, plenty of them aren't. i am really into doing things locally, and i need some help with pruning that i don't think can be achieved over the internet by receiving written advice. i live in los angeles, zipcode 90065 & my neighborhood is called glassell park. instead, i want someone with a passion for gardening (and LOTS of experience) to help us become better stewards of the trees on our property, for the sake of the air quality, the neighborhood's beauty, and for keeping our house in shade more of the day. i've already done a lot of educating myself, but it's intimidating, because i expect the trees to outlive me by a lot (if the future owners of our house have any sense), and if i mess up, i could jeopardize the chance of those trees living on to be appreciated by future generations. and then add to that my arachnophobia, and whenever i say to myself, "perhaps i'll give pruning that lemon tree a try today", i immediately decide i should work on some other house project. one that i know won't be frustrating or intimidating. since we've only owned our house a year and a half, i'm a newbie gardener. i took a really useful plant biology class and studied urban sustainability in college, and i have amassed a decent collection of gardening & landscaping books. but that doesn't translate to a green thumb. i'm learning but, as you all know, there's a lot of trial and error. i've succeeded in killing more plants than i've kept alive. i even killed the creeping thyme, which everyone said would grow in southern california with ease. oh well. although they can be expensive mistakes, they can be fixed. a botched pruning job can have far more serious consequences. eek!

although there are tons of you sweet and giving individuals on here, constantly adding information that helps all of us out, i think asking you to come to my place and teach me is a whole new level. it would feel unethical not to offer payment for said help. so that's why i posted an ad on craigslist. there didn't seem to be *quite* the proper forum for me to post this in. i'm thinking of this as an arrangement along the lines of the seed and plant trading, except i need your expertise, and have no beautiful garden from which to offer plants in return. but i can offer to pay you. anyhow, since i've already composed the craigslist ad, a brief description of the specific help i need is already written up there. rather than paste that into here and bloat this post, i'll just give the URL. then you can read it and either reply to me on this forum, or feel free to email me through craigslist. i'll probably get the email from craigslist sooner, since i'm using a different email address now than the one i subscribed to dave's garden with, and don't check it as often as my current one.

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/lbg/1424655914.html

if i'm breaking etiquette with this post, please let me know. i have no intention of doing so, but it seems possible that this fits into a grey area. i'd just so much rather have a gardening enthusiast from this wonderful dave's garden community be the person who helps us out. in fact, i'd love to meet other gardeners in our area in general, and become gardening friends, and trade plants and seeds and advice and help each other garden from time to time. i think that'd be fabulous. so feel free to shoot me a line if you're in my 'hood and would also like a gardening buddy. none of my current friends do much gardening.

This message was edited Oct 21, 2009 10:48 AM

I think you might stand a better chance of a response if you post this in the Tree and Conifer forum

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/tas/all/

or in the California gardening forum


http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/region_ca/all/

hey, thanks! i will do that! :)

You are very welcome....Good Luck.