MODESTO ASH (Fraxinus velutina ‘Modesto’), often used as a landscaping tree in California, tends to form sharp-angle attachments between the lateral branches and the main trunk. As the branches and trunk increase in diameter, bark becomes imbedded in these sharp-angle crotches, thus impairing the strength of the attachment of the branch to the trunk. As the tree matures, reaching out to 30 feet high and wide, the weight of each branch creates a tremendous strain at the branch-trunk union. Serious splitting off of branches is occurring with many Modesto Ash trees because of this inherent weakness of the branch-trunk union.