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Downey Trees Inc. Merges with SavATree

Bedford Hills, NY — June 15, 2020 — SavATree, the industry leader in professional tree, shrub and lawn care, has announced a merger with Downey Trees Inc. of Atlanta, GA, a full-service and highl…

June 23, 2020

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The Trees of the Hundred Acre Wood

Forget about Coronavirus for a few minutes: read this blog and take a pleasant stroll through a forest of the imagination! Two relatively recent events sent me tumbling back to the childhood of my son…

April 21, 2020

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The Dark Side of a Christmas Tradition

The custom began nearly 1000 years ago in Norse mythology, and because of it we tend to make light of an insidious problem for our trees! The myth: there once was a man named Odin who was married to a…

December 17, 2019

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Of Cacti & Trees: A Diatribe of Drought!

As you walk outside your home or office on the hot days of Summer and Fall of 2019, allow that blast of heat that hits you to transport you 1,500 miles to the west, to a very different type of “wood…

October 10, 2019

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Do Trees Harbor a Hidden Life?

Trees have some capabilities you might find surprising – some that could even be considered surprisingly human. Examples of these are revealed in a recent book written by German Forester Peter …

June 24, 2019

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Trees Cut Down Transformed into Works of Art

Time had taken its toll on quite a few trees at the Atlanta Botanical Garden (ABG), and several others were in need of removal to make way for other projects. There were only a few people, however, th…

April 10, 2019

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Truffula Trees…or Woodbutchery?

It must be something about this time of year: driving around Atlanta I see so many trees that look as though they would be better suited to illustrate a book by Dr. Seuss!  Perhaps it is the trunks a…

March 12, 2019

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A Prison with No Shade: A Tribute

The back roads were dark and sinuous. It was well before sunup and the day promised to be hot and humid: even though it was it was past mid-September, the heat of summer showed no signs of releasing i…

November 27, 2018

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Petrified

While the beauty and variety of trees to be found on Earth can quickly boggle the mind, some of the most interesting and mysterious are those that aren’t even alive today. No, we are not speaking of…

August 16, 2018

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Not your Granddad’s fishing pond!

Looking like cannon-shell craters left over from the Battle of Atlanta, properties all over the metro area are packed with what look like sinkholes bursting with weedy growth. Even the proper term for…

April 19, 2018

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Teaching Aerial Rescue to the Rescuers

Last year, a blog was posted on this website titled “A Skill You Hope You Will Never Need.” The tragic reality is that sometimes the skill is not where it is needed—a jolting example of wrong pl…

February 3, 2018

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A Tale of Two (Christmas) Trees

Downey Trees has forged some interesting partnerships over the years as well as some most unusual applications of arboriculture. One of these partnerships is with the Georgia Building Authority (GBA).…

December 11, 2017

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Who said the Easter bunny can’t climb trees?

It may be most unusual to be talking about an Easter Egg hunt in the middle of fall, but this was no usual Easter Egg hunt! It would be fallacious to say that the lead climbers at Downey Trees don’t…

October 9, 2017

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A Soft Spot for the Animals

It’s surprising what one might run across in a tree.  Last summer, while removing a Red Oak tree approaching 250 years old, the Downey crew found a possum living a high-rise lifestyle about 45 feet…

June 23, 2017

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A Skill You Hope You’ll Never Need

To most of us, an error on the job might mean an addition mistake or a misspelled word; an injury, slamming one’s knee into a desk corner, or perhaps a paper cut. For the men and women in the busine…

May 18, 2017

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Considering the Much Maligned Crapemyrtle!

Even those that don’t have much of an appreciation of plants and flowers are likely to stop, stare, and admire the beauty and variety of color exhibited by the Crapemyrtle during the hot months of s…

January 25, 2017

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Over the River and Through the Woods…

…To the Governor’s House We Go! Twas months before Christmas and all through the state They searched for a tree for the Governor’s estate. The chainsaws all hung in Downey’s shop with care, In…

December 16, 2016

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The Trouble with Leyland cypress…

The increasing drought in Georgia has turned Leyland Cypress trees from green to branches of brown. What is the cause and what can be done? Below are some points about what we are seeing and some thin…

October 28, 2016

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Last Day in the Life of a Bicentennial Oak

The old soldier was showing his age. Several months prior, a large section of the top failed, breaking open to expose a significant cavity near the apex. There were telltale signs at the base of the t…

October 6, 2016

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Kudzu, just the facts please…

Kudzu was first introduced from Asia in the late 19th century but not widely planted until the 1930’s when in 1935 as dust storms ravaged prairies, Congress acted declaring war on soil erosion and e…

August 23, 2016

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From the Redwood Forest

It seems as though no sooner than Memorial Day becomes a fading memory, the 4th of July rolls around to provide an opportunity for the celebration of our independence. No complaints here of another ho…

June 17, 2016

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A Memorial Day Tribute

As the European countryside was becoming scarred with trenches and pocked with artillery shells and the other devices of tortuous death that defined World War I, a different kind of devastation was ta…

May 26, 2016

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Some Thoughts on Earth Day and Arbor Day, 2016

This Earth Day, April 22, 2016, I found myself speaking to 2 groups of Middle School Students at Summerhour Middle School near the Norcross Office of Downey Trees, Inc, Inc. The tTeachers, parents and…

April 26, 2016

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Zika virus and detention ponds…

Zika virus is the talk of every major news outlet and most recently the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta issued a travel advisory regarding the virus and travel to South America.  The comm…

February 8, 2016

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With all this rain, are my trees safe?

Rain soaked soils have some homeowners asking the question, are my trees safe?  It’s a fair question for sure and according to NOAA National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office Atlanta’s rai…

November 9, 2015

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