Dead Ash Trees and Buckthorn Cleared in Vadnais Heights

Sometimes the right move is taking something out rather than putting something in. That's exactly where we were on this one - a backyard in Vadnais Heights where two ash trees had been taken out by Emerald Ash Borer, and a serious tangle of buckthorn had quietly taken over the fire pit area. Neither problem was new. They'd just been living with it.

The ash situation is something we see constantly across Minnesota right now. EAB doesn't give trees a chance, and once they're gone, they're gone. Dead ash standing in a yard aren't just an eyesore - they're a liability. Brittle branches, compromised structure, unpredictable failure points. Getting them down is the right call every time.

The buckthorn was a whole separate battle. That stuff is relentless. It doesn't just grow - it crowds. It shades out everything underneath it and spreads fast. This fire pit area had been slowly swallowed by it over the years, to the point where the space felt more like a thicket than somewhere you'd want to spend a summer evening. We cleared it all out alongside the ash removal, which made the whole job cleaner and more complete.

Once the trees and the buckthorn were gone, open sky came through where there hadn't been any in a long time. The fire pit area went from feeling closed off and overgrown to actually feeling like a place worth being. That's not a small thing. Reclaiming a space you stopped using is genuinely satisfying work - for us and for the homeowner.

If you've got ash trees that didn't leaf out this spring, or buckthorn that's been quietly taking over a corner of your yard, it's worth having someone take a look. Waiting usually just means more work later. We're happy to talk through what's going on and what it would take to get that space back.