Hurricane season is still on. Today is August 26, 2026, which puts Broward County in the heart of the Atlantic season. You do not need a named storm parked over Pompano Beach for a tree to fail. A feeder band, a squall, or a saturated live oak with a dead leader is enough.
EPR Landscaping is licensed, insured, and veteran-owned, based at 913 NE 1st St in Pompano Beach. We are the same company as EPR Fencing & Pergolas, not a rival crew. We handle tree trimming as hurricane prep: crown thinning, dead-wood removal, palm cleanup, and clearance off the roof and the screen enclosure. Full removal of large trees is a different license. We refer that to a licensed arborist partner.
This is how that work looks on real lots in Pompano Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and Hollywood, not a recap of a pruning manual.
What hurricane trimming actually means
Hurricane trimming is not topping a tree so it looks smaller. It is not stripping the interior so only tufts of leaves sit at the ends of long limbs. That last habit is called lion-tailing. It makes the tree more likely to break, not less, because the sail sits farther out and the wood has no interior cushion.
The pieces we actually do, again and again, are these:
- Dead and dying wood. A dry leader is a missile. We take it while it is still attached, not after it is in the lanai.
- Crown thinning. We reduce density so wind can move through the canopy. We leave enough live foliage that the tree can still feed itself.
- Clearance from the structure. Roof tiles, gutters, screen enclosures, and AC pads do not need a mahogany leaning on them. We cut for space, not for a “sculpted” look.
- Weight on long laterals. A limb that was fine in May can be a lever in August once the wood is wet. We shorten or remove the ones that are already cracking at the union.
- Haul-away. Trimmings leave with us. A pile at the curb is not a finished job.
Your lot may also have a ficus hedge, a row of arecas, or a gumbo limbo that was planted too close to the house twenty years ago. That is a site plan. We look at how the canopy sits over the roof and the driveway, not just how the tree looks from the street.
We are not the power company. If a limb is in the service drop or the primary, we flag it. Cutting in energized lines is not landscaping.
Palms are a different job
Palms do not get crown-thinned like an oak. They grow from one bud. If you cut that, the palm is done.
What people call a “hurricane cut”, skinning a coconut or royal down to a few vertical fronds, is a fashion, not a wind strategy. You remove the green skirt that actually buffers the bud, you stress the palm, and you still have a tall pole in the next band. We do not skin healthy green fronds to make a palm look “storm ready.”
What we do on palms:
- Remove dead, hanging, and broken fronds.
- Take seed pods and flower stalks that will become projectiles.
- Clear fronds off the roof, the pool screen, and the walkway.
- Leave healthy green fronds in place.
Palms can be trimmed year-round. Hardwoods have a better window in late winter and early spring, before peak growth and before season. We are not in that window today. We are in season. If a live oak is hanging over the bedroom or a ficus is rocking in saturated soil, waiting for January is not a plan. If the tree is sound and the only issue is cosmetics, we can schedule you after the peak months. We will tell you which one you have.
Hardwoods we see on Broward lots
South Florida trees grow fast. That is the point of planting them, and it is why an ignored canopy becomes a problem by August.
Live oaks hold a lot of sail. They are strong when the unions are sound and the interior is not a nest of dead wood. After a long rain the soil around the root plate goes soft, especially in sandy fill in Pompano Beach and Hollywood. A lean that started as a half-inch in June is a different tree after two days of standing water.
Mahogany puts on long laterals. Those laterals are what end up on the screen enclosure. Thinning and shortening beats hoping the next squall misses the house.
Gumbo limbo is brittle when it is overextended. It looks fine until a band hits it. We take the long, poorly attached pieces and leave a balanced head.
Ficus, trees and hedges, grow through fences, into eaves, and over neighboring driveways. Hedge work is lawn maintenance. A large ficus canopy over the roof is trimming. A ficus that has to come out at the stump is a removal, and that is the arborist partner.
We will not guess species health from a phone photo if the question is “will this hold.” We look at the unions, the lean, and what sits under the drip line.
Clearance from the house, then the rest of the lot
Most storm calls after a blow are not “the tree in the back corner.” They are the one over the roof.
A mahogany or oak that is kissing the shingles will grind tiles in a tropical-storm wind even if nothing snaps. Screen enclosures fail at the corners when a limb rides them. Pool cages are expensive. A trim that keeps the canopy off the aluminum is cheaper than a cage shop.
We also look at:
- Side-yard trees over the neighbor’s driveway or pool. HOAs and cities care about that after the fact.
- Trees over the fence line. If a limb is already loading a wood run, tell us. Our fencing crew at EPR Fencing handles the fence; we handle the tree. Same company, two phones, one walk-through if both are involved.
- AC pads, propane, and the service path to the backyard. A pile of fronds against the condenser is a different problem than wind.
Do not put a ladder on a wet roof to “take a little off” yourself. That is how people meet the ER and the tree still needs a crew.
What we haul, and what we refer
We trim. We prune. We clean up. We haul debris.
Full removal of large trees is not our job. If the tree has to come out, storm-failed, root-plate lifted, trunk split, or a homeowner who is done with the species, we refer you to a licensed arborist partner. That is the honest line. A crew that “just drops it” without the right insurance and the right plan is how a roof gets opened. We will not pretend we are that license.
Small ornamental removals and hedge tear-outs that sit inside a landscape job are different from taking a 50-foot oak off a house. We will say which one you have on the property, not in a text thread.
If a tree is already down on a fence, get the tree off first. Call us at (954) 461-8466. Fence repair waits until it is safe to stand there; EPR Fencing picks it up from there at (954) 464-9931.
Before the next band, not after the debris pile
A trim in late August is still useful. Season runs through November. The point of doing it now is to take off the wood that is already dead, already hanging, or already on the roof before the next named system.
After a storm the job changes. Hanging limbs, split crotches, and trees on structures are hazard work. Do not walk under a cracked leader to “see if it will hold.” Photograph from a distance, keep people out of the drip line, and call.
We work Pompano Beach first because that is home, then Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Deerfield Beach, and the other cities we already serve: Oakland Park, Lighthouse Point, Hillsboro Beach, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Wilton Manors, Coconut Creek, Margate, Tamarac, Coral Springs, Parkland, Davie, and Boca Raton. The trees are the same species. The access, the HOA, and the parking are not.
On site we look at the canopy over the house, dead wood, palm fronds and pods, and whether anything is a removal instead of a trim. We are not putting prices here. Height, access, and whether a crane or the arborist partner is in the picture change the number. Call and we will look.
For the service itself, use the tree trimming page. For the city we are standing in, use Pompano Beach, Fort Lauderdale, or Hollywood.
Hurricane season is not a reason to skin a healthy palm. It is a reason to get dead wood off the house.
Frequently asked questions
Do you remove large trees, or only trim?
We trim. For full removal of large trees, we refer you to a licensed arborist partner. If the tree is already on a structure or the root plate has lifted, that is the call we make on site, we do not drop a large tree as a landscaping extra.
Is it too late to trim in August during hurricane season?
No. Season is still active as of August 26, 2026, and it runs through November. Dead wood, hanging fronds, and canopy on the roof are worth taking now. Cosmetic thinning on a sound tree can wait if the calendar is full after a named storm. A hazard cannot.
Should I “hurricane-cut” my palms down to a few fronds?
No. That removes the green fronds that protect the bud and does not make the palm a better pole in the wind. We take dead and hanging fronds and seed pods, and we keep healthy green fronds on the palm.
Do you haul the debris?
Yes. Crown thinning, palm cleanup, and dead-wood removal include haul-away and a final cleanup. A pile at the curb is not how we leave a Pompano Beach, Fort Lauderdale, or Hollywood job.
Call EPR Landscaping
For hurricane tree trimming in Pompano Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, or the rest of Broward, call (954) 461-8466. We will walk the lot, tell you what is a trim, and refer a licensed arborist if the tree has to come out.
Licensed, insured, veteran-owned. 913 NE 1st St, Pompano Beach, FL 33060. Same company as EPR Fencing. Request an estimate.
