Branching Out
Local arborist has turned an interest in trees into a career
By Shari Kaplan
Photographs by Paul Myers
Blair Glenn says he likes to keep a low profile. He neither advertises nor solicits for business for his tree service company. By contrast, however, the fruits of his labors are very evident to those who know where to look--especially in Saratoga.
For example, the two huge Italian stone pines in downtown Saratoga's Blaney Plaza could be nicknamed "Blair's Pair," since they wouldn't be a twosome at all if not for his quick thinking.
There's also an unnamed rural pocket at the northeastern corner of Pollard and Quito roads that, although unnamed, might as well be called "Blair's Glenn," as it was Glenn who asked the city of Saratoga many years ago if he could "adopt" it. He has maintained the park-like patch of old oaks, sycamores and wildflowers ever since, at no cost to the city.
As the founder of Saratoga Tree Service, which next year marks its 30th anniversary, the 48-year-old has survived broken bones, electrical shocks, close encounters with angry animals and close calls with moving vehicles. Each morning, however, he awakens in his home in the Los Gatos section of the Santa Cruz Mountains surrounded by the trees he loves, and looks forward to going to work.
"My life isn't something that I really planned--it just kind of happened, but I'm glad," he says with a smile. "I cannot stress enough that if you follow your love and do what you love, you will succeed!"
Glenn's road to a successful career began before he even identified it as such. He first discovered he loved working with trees as a young boy, when he helped his father in the family orchard in Morgan Hill. Elsewhere on the property, he also enjoyed spending time in trees. "We always had a treehouse," he recalls.
A 1972 graduate of Branham High School in San Jose, Glenn spent a year in Yosemite National Park, climbing rocks for fun and working for the U.S. Parks Service doing search and rescue. "After that, I knew I couldn't handle a desk job!" he says. "My love of it made me realize I needed a job outside. I went from rock-climbing to tree-climbing."
When he returned to the South Bay, he worked for a time with other arborists doing tree maintenance. Before the end of 1973, however, he decided to start his own business--a smaller incarnation of what Saratoga Tree Service is today.
Although he has studied for three years at Cupertino's DeAnza College--mostly in the creative arts--Glenn does not hold a college degree. He is, however, certified with the International Society of Arboriculture, which requires prospective members to have a good amount of experience and personal recommendations before they can even attempt the ISA's extensive exam. Members must then take continuing education courses for as long as they wish to maintain their certification, which Glenn earned in 1986.
"One of the things I love is that I get to meet so many interesting people. I also get to see a lot of their backyards; while they're off working, I get to enjoy their yards," he says.
"I also really like being able to go back to the same tree every couple of years to take care of it. I get really attached to those trees; I know every branch," he reveals with a smile.
The nearer of these two Italian stone pines in Saratoga's Blaney Plaza would have toppled a decade ago if arborist Blair Glenn hadn't trimmed its limbs and propped its trunk.
A tree Glenn knows very well is one of the two Italian stone pines in Saratoga's Blaney Plaza, which were planted in 1918 at the entrance to the Saratoga Village. At least a decade ago, he estimates, the tree that is now supported by two 12-by-12 redwood planks was about to topple under its own weight.
"The roots were saturated [from rain], the ground was shifting and the tree was leaning. The city recognized there was a problem when it moved about 2 feet overnight," he recalls. The next day, Glenn joined a handful of city officials and other arborists who were looking at the tree.
Glenn says the group agreed it was too dangerous and too far gone to salvage--even part of its root structure was rising out of the ground. Then Glenn says he "went out on a limb" and suggested, "Why don't you just prop it?"
Although everyone else was agog, Glenn envisioned success. He sent the city's maintenance crew on an urgent search for the right lumber, which ended up coming from a former lumberyard in Los Gatos.
As for the umbrella-shaped pine itself, Glenn hoisted himself into its outstretched branches and gave it a "crash diet"--he estimates he removed 7,000 pounds of branches in just 10 minutes. Every minute, he adds, he felt the tree settling back into the ground, moving in the opposite direction from the precarious angle it had been in. That's how the tree remains today, safely propped and thriving, right beside its twin.
Glenn remembers another tree job in Saratoga that he didn't expect to be dangerous, but was. It began, he says, when he and some of his crew were removing a tall eucalyptus tree. Glenn pulled a little too hard on a rope that was swung through the tree, which caused it to teeter right in his direction.
"I ran, looking over my shoulder as I went. I ran out into the street, right into the path of an oncoming car!" he says. The car stopped just inches from his body. The driver appeared angry for a moment, he recalls, until the eucalyptus crashed down inches from the car--and Glenn.
With palm trees, the memorable incidents are often humorous. Glenn says when he climbs the slender trunks to trim their beards of dead fronds, he often encounters families of rats or squirrels hiding high in the tree's crown. Sometimes the frightened rodents scamper across Glenn's body on their way down the trunks, but usually they take flying leaps out of the tree. He marvels at their ability to survive the landing, he says.
Another memorable incident in the profession that Glenn says "never gets old or boring" includes the day his brother, Brian, who was working for him at the time, fooled Blair into climbing a 100-foot tree in Los Gatos that contained a raccoon's lair.
"Brian got down from the tree and told me he couldn't do it. I was so mad at him," recalls Glenn, who had no idea why his brother suddenly didn't know how to trim a tree. Rushing his way up in aggravation, he stopped short when he came face to face with a large, even more aggravated raccoon.
Glenn came down the tree as fast as he went up. "My brother and the other guys were rolling on the ground, laughing," he says, shrugging it off as just an extreme example of a brotherly prank.
This job was one of more than 1,000 jobs done in Los Gatos over the years. "After nearly 30 years of business, a thousand jobs is nothing," he says, chuckling.
These jobs, like those he does in many South Bay cities, include some for private residences, some for apartment or condo complexes and some contracted by cities or the Santa Clara Valley Water District.
One ongoing job is that of maintaining the approximately 1-acre patch of woodland at Quito and Pollard roads. Although owned by the city of Saratoga, it's close to the borders of Los Gatos and Campbell as well. Glenn said he thought it such a nice pocket of rural beauty amid urban growth that he volunteered to adopt it and maintain its trees gratis.
Arborist Blair Glenn works his way up a tree in the park-like area he adopted in Saratoga. He maintains the trees there at no cost to the city.
Another important aspect of the business, Glenn says, is educating others about the needs of trees and the proper way to care for them. "Some people have funny ideas about tree care, and many tree companies perpetuate that by doing improper work, or simply doing unnecessary work," he says, citing examples like excess pruning, pruning in the wrong season or planting so many trees in a given area that none of them can grow as they should.
He particularly dislikes topping, a procedure in which a tree top is chopped off to halt its vertical growth. Sometimes topping causes a tree to become infected; more often, topping compromises the shape or structural integrity when the tree tries to compensate by growing new branches below the chop.
Over the years, Glenn has also learned new things himself. Something he says still amazes him is the discrepancy between age and appearance of many California trees. For example, he says, the majority of the state's massive, gnarled valley oaks (Quercus lobata) are probably only 100 to 150 years old.
On the East Coast, however, the closely related white oaks (Quercus alba) would often take 300 years to achieve the same appearance. That's because trees living in harsher climates usually experience longer winter dormancy and less yearly growth, he says.
"As an amateur student of dendrology, when I count the rings [of a felled tree], I'm always amazed at how young some of these trees are that look old!" he says.
Even when he or his crew have to remove trees, he tries not to let the wood go to waste. In cooperation with Northern Hardwoods Inc., Glenn uses a sawmill in Santa Clara to transform trunks and branches into useful lumber. Some he uses himself to build things at home--including tree houses for his children, while some is purchased by other individuals or companies. Among his favorite woods for milling are black walnut, elm, ash, maple, camphor, fruit wood (from orchard trees) and certain types of oaks.
Like a tree, Glenn has expanded in many directions over the years. The one direction he says he won't be going any time soon is away.
"People just aren't meant to sit inside all day. I think I'm the envy of all my friends. I get to work outdoors; I don't have to go to the gym to stay fit, and I truly love what I do," he says, smiling.
Los Gatos, California Since 1881
Los Gatan Blair Glenn, owner of Saratoga Tree Service, prepares to climb a tree--one of his passions since childhood.
