The Many Headed Medusa Tree (How NOT to Prune a Doug Fir Tree)

Before we left for Seattle, we hired a landscaper friend to trim the large Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga mensiesii) between our house and the neighbors'. Years ago it was headed improperly so it has far too many heads. As you can see in the image below, one of these many heads was bending and growing dangerously near our house's roof. With wind storms being rather common in the NW, this branch has been causing me a great deal of grief.

In the image below, you can see that the south side of our home now has a lot more light and the tree looks much better. A few nights ago we had some strong wind gusts and for the first time in 6 years, I didn't hear a peep from our tree dropping stuff on the roof. 

We had the canopy lifted too and that is probably the greatest benefit. I cannot wait to watch things grow like crazy this season.

In this image from before the trim you can see how messy our multi-headed tree looked. The big thick branch/head on the far right is the one that was growing toward our house. It was really thick and growing so unnaturally. You can see why I was so stressed.

Afterwards, the tree clearly looked a lot better. I still hate its many heads, but for now, they are all healthy, so I will leave them alone.