Tree Service in Los Angeles, CA
Who owns the tree in your parkway? In Los Angeles it is often the city, which looks after about 660,000 street trees. Our tree service in Los Angeles plans each trim or removal around that answer and the city's native-tree rules.
Tree care in Los Angeles
Two questions settle a Los Angeles tree job before the saw does
The first question is who owns the tree — and in Los Angeles, it is often the city. The Urban Forestry Division of StreetsLA looks after about 660,000 street trees on public land. It also has a say over some native trees on private land. You need a city permit to remove, trim or root-prune a street tree. An owner can get a no-fee permit to have one pruned at their own cost. Removal is a separate request, and the city says no when the tree can be kept.
In Los Angeles a permit mistake can cost more than the tree. Find out whose tree it is, and what kind, before anyone prices the job.
Who governs tree work in Los Angeles
City of Los Angeles
Tree work in Los Angeles follows the city's own tree rules. No pruning permits shall be issued for Historic-Cultural Monument street trees without written approval of Urban Forestry Division management. All tree planting requires a no-fee plant permit that is issued by the Bureau’s UFD. Additionally, UFD upholds protection of Oak trees and other native tree and shrub species protected by the City of Los Angeles’ Protected Tree and Shrub Ordinance. Rules change. Confirm current requirements with the jurisdiction before work begins — filing a permit is the property owner's responsibility, not ours.
Services
Street tree or protected native? Los Angeles removals and pruning
Supreme Tree Experts removes, prunes and trims palms across Los Angeles, where the city looks after about 660,000 street trees. Owners unsure if an oak or sycamore on their lot is protected in Los Angeles start with Supreme Tree Experts.
Tree Removal
We remove failing yard trees across Los Angeles and tell you first if a tree is the city's. A parkway tree needs its own removal permit, and the city says no if the tree can be kept. Three or more trees go to the Board of Public Works.
Tree Trimming & Pruning
Yard trees get pruned back to strong branches and are never topped. Trimming a parkway tree takes a city permit, which owners get free when they pay for the work. We tell you which trees that rule covers.
Stump Grinding & Stump Removal
Stumps are cut out with a grinder so the spot can be replanted or paved. Under state law, a tree belongs to whoever owns the ground its trunk stands on. For a stump on the fence line, we confirm ownership with you first.
Palm Tree Trimming & Skinning
Palm trimming here means brown fronds and stalks off, the green crown left full, and old frond bases skinned. A Canary Island date palm can catch Fusarium wilt from a dirty saw. It almost always dies, so saws need cleaning between palms.
Emergency Tree Service
When a limb lands on your roof, car or drive in Los Angeles, call us 24/7. Coral trees, the city's official tree, can drop big limbs on hot, still days with no storm at all. The crew secures the site, then clears it.
Tree Maintenance
Each year we check your trees for dead wood, weak limbs and clearance from the roof. In the city's highest fire zones, brush rules reach up to 200 feet from a house. The state redrew its hazard maps in 2025, so check yours.
Tree Height Reduction
We lower tall trees in stages, with a few well-placed cuts on each visit. On a listed native, taking weight off a long limb is allowed. Cutting so hard that the tree dies is treated as a removal.
Estate Tree Care
Big lots often hold native oaks, sycamores and California bays. Each is protected at 4 inches across, measured 4½ feet up. An illegal removal can freeze building permits for up to ten years, so care plans start with them.
Tree Shaping & Shrub Shearing
Shrubs and hedges are shaped by hand to keep a clean, natural form. Toyon and Mexican elderberry are protected shrubs here once they reach 4 inches across. Light shaping is fine, but removing one needs a city permit.
Landscaping
Yard planting is planned for dry summers, with trees placed where they can grow full size. When the city asks for replacement natives, each must be at least a 15-gallon tree and 7 feet tall. We plant them and set up the watering.
Hardscape
Before any digging, we lay out paths and patios around the trees on your lot. Grading, trenching or driving machines over a listed native's roots counts as removing it under city rules. We keep new paving and equipment outside that root zone.
Reviews to read before you book in Los Angeles
Every word below was written by a customer on Google, not by us. Long reviews are shortened to fit the card — never reworded. None of them was left in Los Angeles: they come from customers across Southern California. Read them for how a crew behaves on a job, then decide whether that is who you want in Los Angeles.
“Great pricing & service. Highly competent with tricky jobs. We have used them for more than 10 years.”
Melanie Butler
Local Guide
“We got bids from five contractors. After I talked to them all and checked out their licenses and work, we decided to go with Supreme. … The job took a day and a half, and when they were done, they left the place immaculate.”
Hank Shaeffer
“Great tree trimmers! I’ve used Supreme Tree Experts twice to trim the palm trees in my yard. … The guys who come out are quick thorough, and clean. And very careful not to damage property.”
Emilie Pacheco
“These guys have worked on my property 3 times now. They are always on time and do a fantastic job. I highly recommend them!”
Ray Thompson
“After soliciting several quotes on some difficult yard work, we chose Supreme because of their licensed Arborist Temis … The crew was extremely hard working and we couldn’t believe their continuous work ethic on one of the hottest days of the year.”
Gary Brown
Local Guide
The questions worth asking any Los Angeles tree company
8 of them, answered here for Los Angeles. If yours is not here, call 877-787-7363 and ask.
Yes, if it is a listed kind at the listed size — even on private land. The city protects native oaks (except scrub oak), western sycamore, Southern California black walnut and California bay, plus toyon and Mexican elderberry. They count once the trunk is 4 inches or more across, measured 4½ feet above the ground. Removing or moving one needs a Board of Public Works permit. The city can ask for replacement trees, and an illegal removal can freeze building permits on the lot for up to ten years. Filing the permit is the owner's job, not ours.
The City of Los Angeles. A tree in the parkway is a street tree, cared for by StreetsLA's Urban Forestry Division. Removing, trimming or root-pruning one needs a city permit. You can ask for a no-fee permit to have it pruned at your own cost. Removal is a separate permit, and the city says no if the tree can be saved. A tree inside your own lot line is yours to decide on — unless it is a protected native.
The rules cover removal, moving and harm — not routine pruning. There are still real limits. Cutting so hard that the tree dies counts as removal. So does harming its roots by grading, trenching or driving machines over them. Safe work on such an oak is light: dead wood out, clearance, and weight off a long limb, with the ground under the canopy left alone. If it is also a street tree, the city's prune permit applies too.
In the city's highest fire hazard zones, fire department rules can reach up to 200 feet from a house. Several of them are tree work: all dead material out, lower branches lifted clear of the ground, and branches kept back from chimneys. The goal is to stop fire from climbing from the ground into the crown, not to strip the tree. Check the fire department's rules for your address, because the state redrew its hazard maps in 2025.
Because of the wood. Coral trees have soft, brittle wood that rots easily. They can drop limbs on hot, calm afternoons with no wind at all, and their many trunks tend to split apart as the tree weakens. The best time to prune them is spring, after they bloom. A big coral tree over a roof, a drive or a sidewalk is worth checking before summer, not after it drops something.
Talk to them first. A tree belongs to whoever owns the ground its trunk stands on, under California Civil Code section 833 — even if its roots and branches reach your side. Harming or removing a tree on someone else's land can cost up to three times the actual loss under Civil Code section 3346. If the tree is a listed native, killing it counts as removing it under city rules. Check with a lawyer or your insurer before you cut; this is the general rule, not advice on your case.
Yes — $600 for tree services, wherever the job is. On a hillside lot, a tree that has to be lowered over a house in pieces costs more than one on flat ground with the truck at the curb.
Yes, 24/7. Coral trees here can drop big limbs on hot, still days, so a call can come with no storm at all. Call 877-787-7363.
Three steps in Los Angeles, and no surprises in between
- 01.
Whose tree is it?
An arborist visits for free. We check if the tree is in the parkway, is a protected native, or is simply yours.
- Street tree or private tree
- Protected kinds flagged
- 02.
City sign-off
If a city permit is needed, the owner applies first. Once it is granted, we book a day and plan how the tree comes down.
- Owner applies first
- Rigging planned for the site
- 03.
Cut, chip, haul
The crew prunes or removes the tree, keeps trucks off the roots of listed natives, and takes every branch away.
- Root zones kept clear
- Branches chipped on site
Street trees and protected natives: how our Los Angeles crew is set up
Tree work goes wrong when it is rushed or under-equipped. We run our own 75-foot boom trucks, lift trucks, chippers and stump grinders, and every crew works under an ISA Certified Arborist — so the job gets done right the first time.
We hold California license #1002853 for both landscaping and tree and palm work, we are bonded, we carry general liability and every employee is on workers’ compensation.
ISA Certified Arborist
On the first visit, an arborist tells you if the tree is a street tree, a protected native or neither. In Los Angeles, that one answer shapes most of the job.
Licensed, Bonded & Insured
Street trees and big natives should go to a licensed crew. Ours is licensed under CSLB #1002853 for C-61/D-49 tree service plus C-27 landscaping. We are bonded, with every worker insured.
Southern California Since 1985
The city began protecting native oaks in 1980 and added sycamore, walnut and bay in 2006. Supreme has done tree care in Southern California since 1985.
Our Own Equipment
Our own 75-foot boom trucks reach over a house to a back-yard tree, so gear is not dragged across a native tree's root zone.
Getting to Los Angeles
Los Angeles from the flats to the hillsides — the route in, and the room at the curb, decide how a job here is done.
- ZIP codes
- 90004900059000690012900199002690027900299003690039900419004290065