From March through May and again from October through December, we manage planting projects of every scale—from a single backyard specimen to large-scale installations of hundreds of trees designed to reduce the Urban Heat Island Effect. Urban Arborists has been instrumental in expanding the city’s urban tree canopy.

We love to plant. Nurseries are our equivalent of the corner candy store. While we’re often tempted by the sheer beauty of what we encounter, we are meticulous about recommending plants that are truly suited to each site’s conditions and our clients’ goals. We select not only the right species and cultivar, but also the right form for the space where the plant will live.

Whenever possible—whether planting or maintaining landscapes—we prefer to work with existing soils. In urban environments, trees often struggle due to limited access to uncompacted soil. This is especially true in street tree pits but can also occur in parks and institutional settings where compaction is sometimes unavoidable. We are adept at improving soil availability, and we can also expand tree pits to give street trees the room they need to thrive.

Our clients include individuals, Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), block associations, municipalities, institutions, and public agencies.

You can schedule a complimentary estimate visit by clicking the book now button below.

There are many reasons to prune—making a tree safer, repairing damage, improving structure or health, refining shape, or simply keeping the neighbors happy. But in every case, pruning is an art. Our goal is to help your tree or shrub thrive in its place and purpose.

Before we make a single cut, we talk with you to understand your priorities, and we prune only as much as necessary to achieve them. We follow the physician’s creed: First, do no harm.

We also have a special passion for formal pruning. Ornamental pollarding, coppicing, and aerial hedging are areas in which our team has deep expertise.

You can schedule a complimentary estimate visit by clicking the book now button below.

In the aftermath of both Irene and Superstorm Sandy, Urban Arborists mobilized immediately to support residents, institutions, and public spaces facing suddenly hazardous conditions. Before Sandy’s storm surge inundated Red Hook—home to our office and yard—we secured our trucks and continued operating from a temporary location.

Many properties were impacted by severely compromised or fallen trees, some of which required specialized removal. In these situations, we worked alongside a trusted crane operator, gaining invaluable experience with complex extractions that exceeded the capacity of standard equipment.

While we hope our region never faces storms of that magnitude again, we remain fully prepared to respond swiftly and safely whenever our clients need us.

You can schedule a complimentary estimate visit by clicking the book now button below, or by calling the office.

Although we avoid removals unless truly necessary, we excel at complex removals in the tightest urban spaces. As a city-focused company, we’re all too familiar with towering, declining ailanthus, locusts, or silver maples squeezed into small backyards—often surrounded by windows, delicate gardens, prized plantings, or even fishponds.

We take pride in our ability to dismantle these large and hazardous trees with precision, ensuring that the surrounding landscape remains completely unharmed.

You can schedule a complimentary estimate visit by clicking the book now button below.

When a valuable, relatively young tree can no longer remain where it is, we can carefully lift it from its original location and establish it in a new home. Our record of successful transplants grows every year. The Urban Arborists crew works efficiently and precisely, preserving as much of the root system as possible and protecting the crown throughout transport.

We routinely transplant trees up to 8–10" DBH. Before any move, we conduct a thorough inspection to assess the likelihood of success—evaluating not only the tree’s size and condition, but also the characteristics of both the current site and the destination site.

You can schedule a complimentary estimate visit by clicking the book now button below.

Our ISA-certified arborists can provide fee-based consulting services for construction and landscape design projects. Services range from tree inventories, on-site supervision, succession planning, and more. Click below for more information.

In the event of a disease or pest issue, our arborists can make fee-based diagnostic visits.

Urban Arborists will never place cover sprays to attack unspecified pests on a large number of trees and shrubs. We target specific treatments for specific pests on specific plants, only taking action after a diagnosis is made. We only treat when we observe that the antagonist is present in sufficient numbers to cause harm, and we treat only when that pest is vulnerable. In some cases, we will suggest doing nothing at all.

Where treatments are necessary, we look for the least toxic alternative. There are oils, soaps and more serious pesticides, but sometimes a good jet of plain water will do the job. For Dutch elm disease and the insects that spread it, on the other hand, only a relatively toxic systemic will do. We follow biorational guidelines for all our work, and we offer strictly organic options upon request. 

You can schedule a diagnostic visit by clicking the book now button below.