Not sure why you'd want to save it :-)) For whatever reason, the tree has been butchered, has likely been severely damaged by that pruning (and I use the word lightly) activity and is an eyesore. Get rid of it and replant with something YOU like, not something you will spend months trying to save (if even possible) and of a mature size that won't interfere with the overhead wires. It is not worth wasting time over.

Putting it out of its misery will help it.

And you need to start your own garden on your new property. If you hang with these forums you might just avoid a few big mistakes, like that hatchet job you photographed.

Next question to post: what tree should I plant here?!

Thanks all. I figured it was a goner, but I wanted to be sure. I have seen some trees that get pruned pretty much to the trunk each year, to fill out in spring looking as if nothing had happened.

I don't imagine we will replant in the same spot due to the lines. It's a pretty shady yard and I wouldn't mind a bit more sun back there.

Putting it out of its misery will help it.

==>>> marie is close.. but not quite ...you put it out of YOUR misery ... lol ...

ken

Looks like firewood to me!

To be a contrarian...figure out what it is first. Photograph a leaf and a flower and post them to the "Name that Plant" forum. There are trees that can grow back good as new from a mere stump. If it is something rare or special it might be worth keeping.

Indeed, Much depends on what the tree is. I am very partial to pollarded trees - I find them architectural, interesting and it also greatly lengthens the lifespan of trees treated in this way. Lindens and London planes are routinely pollarded in my area - it is a look I have come to appreciate through all the seasons.

It's not just whether a given tree can "recover" from such poor pruning, it's what the long-term ramifications will be; All those stubs left all over the place will indeed likely have previously dormant buds "released" by the removal of the buds at the ends of the branches-the parts that are now gone. So far so good-the plant will appear to fill back out with live foliage. But the tree can't compartmentalize when branches are lopped off willy-nilly as seen here and consequently, there will very likely be a pocket of decay at the ends-or what are now the ends-of each branch so severely truncated. Even this might not matter so much if this is a species that matures at a low height, etc. It will be full of funky things but nobody will ever know that except for the OP and us readers, lol. But if this were a tall-growing species, having all that decay left up in the crown quickly becomes hazardous. Around here, the prime example of what I'm talking about are large, old silver maples, growing under wires, where the powerline clearance contractor has used less than stellar technique, leaving stubs behind. In each and every such case, regrowth of new sprouts has been explosive, but way back where the random cut was made, there is a well-defined pocket of decay, which can now travel down through the branch and even get into the main trunk.

None of that might matter here if the OP keeps this tree small somehow. But that by no means should be used as an argument that this pruning was acceptable.

Pollard! That's the term I was looking for.

wisconsitom, thanks for your thoughtful reply. You have confirmed my thinking that this tree probably will end up coming down as soon as my dad can bring his chainsaw over.

edlincoln, I won't be able to get that close to the tree for another week or so. I will likely try to find out what kind of tree it is, before we take it down.