Paddle Phillippi Creek on a winter afternoon and its banks tell Sarasota's tree story: cabbage palms in tight ranks, slash pines with bark like puzzle pieces, and the shaded lawns of Phillippi Estate Park near the water. Lamb Tree Care Service tends trees like those in yards across the city, where a single broad shade tree can define a whole lot. The cool, dry months are a gentle season for the work — pruning for shape and clearance, cutting out deadwood, trimming the skirts of old fronds from palms, and removing a tree when it has reached the end of its time. Each cut is placed with the tree's future in mind, so the wood closes over and the crown grows back balanced. As the late light comes slanting through newly opened branches, the yard below gets its sky back.