I was looking into expanding my skills with a computer so I started scanning through the class offerings of a local 2-yr college. When I looked the class schedule options over, I saw the normal things you would expect for nursing, education, business, and computers. What really caught my eye and required further research are three classes with the names Ornamental Plant Health Care, Aerial Tree Pruning, and Aerial Tree Removal Rigging. All three of those are part of the Arborist certification.

So what the heck are all of them?

An Arborist is a person who has been trained to take care of plants and trees. In the Philippines, this is just part of life in the provinces. You learn how to tend to the plants and trees from others who have the knowledge. But as I asked around, there is much more to the certification than just information.

But first, what is Ornamental Plant Health Care? What is an Ornamental Plant? These are the very pretty plants that really make a garden stand out or catch the eye inside a place in the USA. However, the easiest way of describing many of these plants to the average Filipino is simple. What is exotic in the USA is a common plant or flower that goes in the wild or roadside in the Philippines. So don’t take the local plants for granted, here people take classes on how to keep our wildflowers alive.

So what is Aerial Tree Pruning and Aerial Tree Removal Rigging? The first one is simply trimming the branches on a tree. The second one is setting up and taking down the stuff that can get you high enough to trim the branches. Literally, you have to be trained in Wisconsin to pull this off. In the Philippines, we have a much simpler system. Get a ladder or climb the tree with an axe, machete, and / or a saw and trim. If you are not strong enough, agile enough, or have enough endurance, you get help and then trim. You always need ground support.

So what is an Arborist and why is it a certification? Literally, you have to be certified to trim trees and cut them down in Wisconsin. Why? Because the government felt too many people died in accidents related to trimming trees or cutting them down, they felt they needed to protect the people from their poor decision making and general clumsiness. So of course, they have to make cutting a tree more difficult.

What the Philippines has in abundance on this topic is common sense. If you can’t do it, you get help. If you can’t do it, do it anyways, and get hurt, you should have known better.

Live Well and make it a great day!

Anah

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