Our Team | Professional Pruning Services Portsmouth NH
Experienced pruning professionals serving the NH Seacoast and Southern Maine
Expert Pruning is a professional gardening business with three to seven skilled team members working on residential properties throughout Portsmouth, Rye, Exeter, North Hampton, and eighteen communities across the NH Seacoast and Southern Maine. We install new gardens and care for existing landscapes, with a specialty in advanced pruning systems grounded in plant biology rather than habit or appearance alone.
Our team brings diverse backgrounds in horticulture, landscape management, arboriculture, and hands-on plant care. This range of experience allows us to approach each property with practical knowledge, seasonal awareness, and an understanding of how plants respond to cutting over time. We work together as a team, share what we learn, and adapt our methods as plants and properties change.
Who We Are
Different paths, shared commitment to plant health
Our team members come from varied backgrounds—some trained in formal horticulture programs, others developed expertise through years of hands-on work in nurseries, landscape crews, and garden maintenance. A Portsmouth property owner who worked with three different team members over two seasons noted that each brought specific strengths: one excelled at diagnosing plant stress, another at restoring overgrown hedges, and a third at foundation planting renovation. The combined knowledge base reduced trial-and-error and delivered consistent results across the property.
What unifies our team is a plant-first approach. We prioritize understanding how a plant grows, when it flowers, and how it tolerates pruning before making cuts. This shared foundation means homeowners receive thoughtful care regardless of which team member works on their property.
👥 Team Backgrounds & Experience
- Formal horticulture training: University programs, extension courses, and continuing education in plant science
- Landscape industry experience: Installation crews, maintenance divisions, estate gardening, nursery production
- Arboriculture knowledge: Tree care principles, woody plant structure, and safe pruning practices
- Regional expertise: 25+ years combined experience in coastal NH and Southern Maine conditions
Our Expertise Areas
Specialized knowledge across residential pruning needs
While our team works collaboratively, individual members bring depth in specific areas. Some focus on foundation plantings and hedge management, understanding how boxwood, yew, and arborvitae respond to selective thinning versus shearing. Others specialize in flowering shrub care—knowing when forsythia, lilac, and hydrangea set buds and how timing affects bloom.
Renovation work draws on team members experienced with overgrown or neglected landscapes. These projects require staged reduction, careful assessment of recovery capacity, and patience to restore plants over multiple seasons. In Exeter and North Hampton properties, we regularly handle shrubs that have been topped or sheared for years and need structural correction to return to health.
✂️ Core Pruning Specialties
- Foundation plantings: Evergreen shrubs, size control, and long-term maintenance planning
- Flowering shrubs: Timing based on bloom habit (old wood vs new wood), bud preservation
- Hedge renovation: Restoring density, correcting shape, phased reduction for stressed plants
- Small ornamental trees: Japanese maple, crabapple, dogwood, serviceberry structural pruning
- Overgrown landscapes: Multi-season restoration, selective removal, and health assessment
25+
Years serving Portsmouth & the Seacoast
3–7
Skilled team members year-round
18
Towns across NH & Southern Maine
Our Plant-First Approach
Biology-based decisions, not calendar-based routines
Our team follows a plant-first pruning philosophy, often referred to as our SF+EP pruning system. This approach means every cut is guided by how the plant grows, when it flowers, and how much removal it can tolerate in a single season. We limit live growth removal to what the plant can safely handle—typically 20–35% depending on species and condition.
Plant-first thinking also means knowing when not to prune. If a shrub is stressed from drought, disease, or poor soil conditions, cutting often makes decline worse. Our team assesses plant health before recommending work, and when necessary, we address underlying problems like compacted soil or drainage issues before pruning. This prevents the cycle of repeated intervention that doesn't solve the real problem.
Standards and Flexibility
Professional methods with room for better solutions
We prune to professional standards developed over 25+ years of work in coastal New Hampshire and Southern Maine. These standards include proper cut placement, seasonal timing, conservative removal limits, and tool maintenance. They provide consistency and reduce the risk of plant damage or poor results.
At the same time, we recognize that standard practices don't fit every situation. Some properties have unique site conditions—heavy shade, salt exposure, compacted soil, or plants stressed by past care. When a better solution exists, our team adapts the approach while staying grounded in plant biology. This flexibility allows us to solve problems rather than follow routines that don't address what the property actually needs.
Working With Our Team
Reliable, knowledgeable, and respectful of your property
Homeowners in Portsmouth, Exeter, Rye, and surrounding Seacoast communities work with us because they want pruning done correctly and landscapes that improve over time. Our team shows up prepared, communicates clearly about the work being done, and leaves properties cleaner than we found them. We answer questions, explain what we're seeing in the plants, and offer guidance on long-term care.
Reliability matters as much as expertise. We schedule realistically, honor our commitments, and bring the proper tools and insurance coverage to every job. Our team takes pride in delivering professional service that homeowners can depend on season after season.
Work With Our Experienced Team
If you're looking for a professional pruning team that combines expertise, plant knowledge, and reliable service, we invite you to contact us. We serve residential properties throughout Portsmouth, Exeter, and the greater NH Seacoast and Southern Maine.
Contact Expert Pruning