About 3-4 years ago a hickory and a black walnut sprouted in our garden. I have no idea where the nuts came from, probably a crow brought them. Regardless, we decided to let them grow for a few years (we really like both trees, and they are not in a bad place), but we are keeping them topped at about 6 feet tall. We don't want full sized trees there, but don't mind the saplings. How many years will these trees tolerate our abuse of topping them every winter? BTW, we can't keep them long-term, they are adjacent to the house foundation.
They’ll tolerate it for a long time. Black Walnut in particular is often coppiced and tolerates it well.
