Customer Testimonials
“We appreciate the time and attention that your Arbor Patrol team takes to maintain the overall health and appearance of the trees, bushes and general grounds. As they say, you can only have one first impression and the impression the grounds make on both residents and visitors alike is always positive thanks to your caring maintenance. Just as the trees continue to grow and blossom under your care, we hope our relationship with SavATree does the same.”
William Toedter
Southampton, NY
“After four different unsatisfactory visits with so-called arborists, I found SavaTree... I was most impressed with the professionalism of David [my arborists] and his colleagues. They were most knowledgeable, fair with their assessment about what needed to be done, yet very attuned with what my concerns. I highly recommend them without any hesitation. In a field where there is an abundance of folks looking to take advantage of consumers, SavaTree, David and crew strike me as incredibly honest and proud arborists who do a fantastic job.”
Debbie Durkin
Silver Spring, MD
“I am a new and highly satisfied customer of SavATree. For 50 years I have lived in the same house in the Greenhaven area, and in that time I have never had a tree company that gave me such fine service.”
Joan Kleinbard
Rye, NY
“It is always a pleasure working with SavATree as your company provides the best plant, tree and lawn health care that we have experienced at the Ives. Always professional, courteous and responsive to our needs, SavATree’s services have provided our employees and patrons with pleasant outdoor experiences in an insect free environment for several years.”
Kathleen G. Gallagher
Executive Director
The Charles Ives Center for the Arts
Danbury, CT
“For over 14 years, I have entrusted the care of my trees, plants and orchard to SavATree. Their highly qualified arborists have exacting standards and understand how to maintain the health and form of the various species of trees on my property. I admire the artistic skill that goes into the pruning and love the colorful blossoms, fruits and foliage that flourish as a result of their impeccable care.”
Martha Stewart
Katonah, NY
"Efficient, high quality, professional competence — all at a competitive sum. At first [Alison] Pottage won me over by her solid knowledge as an arborist, then the crew did their job to her specifications on our 60 to 70 foot oaks within a remarkable period of time -- and left the grounds quite clean.”
Bob Busser
Philadelphia, PA
Click here to read all testimonials“You take on a job, call it a problem, gigantic or small, and you go to it. True Professionals. I am at peace for having found SavATree. Sometimes bills are paid grudgingly. I pay with respect to a company whose pride lives up to its logo. It’s love of what you do and I thank you.”
Sam Fink
Great Neck, NY
From Sapling to Masterpiece
Patrick Dougherty is an internationally acclaimed sculptor. His medium? Tree saplings of course! Dougherty combines carpentry skills with a love for nature to create beautiful, large-scale, temporary structures. Some are freestanding; others are woven into groves of trees or lashed around buildings. His creations begin with a sound, vision or experience that Dougherty's imagination morphs into willowy and whimsical forms that resemble faces, tumbleweeds, wine bottles, palaces, lairs, or wind gusts — to describe just a few.
Inspiration Behind the Genius
Each piece is constructed on site and built to fit its particular setting, both in the sculpture's size and theme. He begins each piece by experiencing and understanding the site. "I look for starting points. I might see a word or a title on the newsstand, the outline of a mountain range in the distance, or hear a turn of a phrase from a passerby," he said. An advantage of working on site is that it affords him the ability to continually change his vision in response to his changing state of mind. "As I come to know the site and take in its full measure, I constantly adjust the work to fit any new revelation."
His site-specific pieces are made by weaving tree branches of varying sizes, color and flexibility. Sticks entangle in everything they touch and it's this simple tangle that holds his sculptures together. He selects species that are native to the location where he is working and has tried everything from maple, sweet gum, and elm to sassafras, crabapple, bamboo in Japan and strawberry guava in Hawaii.
Dougherty relies on volunteers to help construct each project, which typically requires about three weeks to complete. The end result is something truly spectacular.
Why sticks?
"I believe that childhood shapes a sculptor's choice of materials. I grew up in the woodlands of North Carolina where forests are an overgrown tangle of intersecting natural lines," he explains of his choice of medium.
Despite graduate training as a hospital administrator, at age 36 Dougherty returned to the University of North Carolina to study sculpture. Within just a few years, his work was gaining recognition and his career was underway. Thirty years and over 200 pieces later, he continues to create art for sites all over the world.
"My first works were modest efforts that used sticks to build objects scaled to my own height. But as opportunities presented themselves, I began to integrate my work into architectural situations and then to play sapling sculptures against natural settings. Through experimentation, I was able to up-scale my efforts and build work that seemed to spin across tops of buildings and flow through groups of trees," said Mr. Dougherty.
Because Dougherty's sculptures are made of sticks, they begin to fade after about two years. "Often the public imagines that a work of art should be made to last, but I believe that a sculpture — like a good flowerbed — has its season. In my mind, most professions do temporary work and everyone in the work place enjoys the process of doing their job. Rarely do we rewrite yesterday's novel or reread last week's report." According to Dougherty, "Our contemporary challenge is how to reconnect and live in harmony with the plants and animals that still share the earth. Sculptures from twigs and other kinds of environmental initiatives are helping with that awareness. I think my work does bring up positive associations with the natural world."
Like this article? Feel free to link to it. Please read our
link policy.