Copper beech

[Minniemountain]

Does anyone know if a 10ft copper beech would survive having its branches cut off the lower 5ft?

We need to put a seating area under it as it's the only place we can fit seating and a parasol. I'd much rather reduce the tree than get rid of it entirely.

What size branch diameter are we talking about?

That's called raising the crown. As long as the tree is healthy and you take no more than 1/3 of the tree it should be ok. You could wait until it is properly cold and the tree is dormant.

Good to know. Thank you.

Sometimes referred to as lifting the skirt

Nah, avoid pruning when it's close to, or below freezing. And try to avoid removing branches back to the stem if you can get away with just cutting back secondary branches.