Florida

You’ve got a consultation scheduled with an arborist, and you’re mentally preparing your questions — probably starting with price and how long they’ve been in business. What to ask a local Florida tree arborist actually starts somewhere most homeowners skip entirely: whether their certification would hold up if you ever needed it for something legal

You’re probably here because you’ve got a tree that worries you, and you’re wondering if you can just document what you’re seeing yourself. How to write a tree hazard assessment Florida homeowners can actually rely on starts with a piece of information most guides skip: writing one yourself, however carefully, doesn’t carry the same weight

You’ve got a big, old tree on your property, and someone’s mentioned it might be a “Grand Tree.” Florida grand tree ordinances by city don’t work the way most people assume — there’s no single statewide definition, no one number that applies everywhere. What qualifies as a Grand Tree in Orlando won’t necessarily qualify in

You’re planning to trim a tree, and you’re probably thinking about growth cycles, hurricane season, maybe how the tree looks afterward. Here’s the part most homeowners never hear: the best time of year for tree trimming in Florida isn’t just a horticultural question. For a big chunk of the calendar, it’s also a federal law

You’ve got mangroves along your waterfront, and you’d like a little more of that view back. Before you or anyone you hire touches a branch, here’s a real number worth knowing: a Port St. Lucie resort recently paid $110,395 in state fines, plus a $72,000 county mitigation payment, for illegally cutting mangroves down to nubs.

You’ve heard about the Florida law that lets homeowners skip city permits for dangerous trees, and now your HOA is telling you no. Florida HOA tree removal rules operate on a completely separate track from that state exemption, and understanding why is the key to this whole situation. One is a government law. The other