Skip to content
State Backed Low Interest Loans Are Coming for Defensible Space Work
Direct Answer: SB 894 created the California Wildfire Resilience Loan Program, a low interest loan fund for home hardening and defensible space work. The statute takes effect January 1, 2027, but launch depends on future state budgets. If you own a home in the Almaden Valley foothills or up off Highway 9 in Saratoga, you […]
Do You Need to Be Home When an Arborist Comes to Look at Your Trees?
Direct Answer: Often no. If the tree faces the street and can be reached from the curb, an arborist can assess it without you. Locked gates, dogs, or backyard trees usually mean someone should be home. The office offers you a window and it lands at 1 p.m. on a Tuesday. You want the tree […]
The City Denied Your Street Tree Removal Request. What Happens Next?
Direct Answer: If San Jose denies your street tree removal request, the usual next step is a written risk rating from an ISA Certified Arborist that documents the specific defect, giving the city something concrete to reconsider. A homeowner called me this summer with a sequence that made no sense to him. On a Friday […]
I Haven’t Heard Back. When Will I Get My Tree Estimate?
Direct Answer: A photo estimate should get a reply within about two business days. After an on-site visit, expect a few days. Jobs needing a permit check or ordinance measurement take longer. You sent the photos. Maybe someone even came out and walked the yard with you. And then nothing came back, and now you […]
Is California Banning Your Lawn in 2027? What the Rule Covers in San Jose
Direct Answer: No. AB 1572 bans potable water on nonfunctional turf at public, commercial and HOA common-area properties on a staged schedule starting January 1, 2027. Private single-family yards are not covered. I keep getting asked some version of the same question this year: is the state going to make me tear out my lawn […]
Birch Dieback in San Jose Yards: Stress, Borers, or Simply Age?
Direct Answer: Most birch dieback in San Jose comes from heat and water stress, with borers arriving after. Age matters too: birches here often decline within about 20 years of planting. You planted a row of birches years ago. They all went in the same week, in the same soil, on the same valve. And […]
Your Corner Hedge Blocks the Sight Triangle. What Can You Plant Instead?
Direct Answer: Inside a San Jose corner sight triangle, shrubs must stay low and trees need a single clear trunk through the regulated band, with canopy above it. Confirm exact heights with the city first. The letter is usually short. It gives you a height, a compliance date, and a line saying the property will […]
Three Years Between Tree Visits: What Changes in a Mature Canopy
Direct Answer: In three growing seasons, limbs get longer and heavier at the tips, interior deadwood builds up, and clearance closes in. The tree is not neglected. It is simply loaded differently. Most of the time, the call is not an emergency. It is a homeowner saying some version of “you were out here a […]
Brown Patches in Your Italian Cypress Screen: Mites, Canker, or Water?
Direct Answer: Italian cypress browning usually traces to spider mites, canker disease, or uneven watering. Where the browning starts matters most: top-down dieback suggests canker, dull bronzing suggests mites, single brown trees suggest irrigation. Almost every call I get about Italian cypress starts the same way. A homeowner planted a row of them years ago […]
New State Loan Program Will Help Pay for Home Hardening and Defensible Space
Direct Answer: California’s wildfire package, signed September 29, 2026, creates a low-interest loan program to lower the up-front cost of home hardening and defensible space work for homes and businesses statewide. Most homeowners I talk to already know what their property needs. The brush on the slope has to come down, the lower limbs on […]
