It's not a common name I've ever heard; I am wondering if you misheard him. Perhaps when they next come you could as for the spelling?

I'm pretty sure it's wicked, as in halloween, but I'll ask next time. There is a Wicked Tree company, accounting for most of google's hits.

i believe its the title to a picture.. rather than a type of tree .. ken

Like the wicked apple trees in the Wizard of Oz or those nasty thumping trees in Harry Potter. I think you;d like a tree with an interesting branching pattern. there are quite few, though maturity is required for a really threatening effect.

Marie, my favorite aspect of those "apple" trees in Wizard of Oz (still pretty much the best movie ever made) is that they are beech! Ever notice the ultra-smooth trunks.....but they have apples! What a concept!

Zanthoxylum jumped into my head - also known as toothache tree. Wicked spines!

Never noticed that the OZ trees were genetically modified .

L. Frank Baum was way ahead of his time, lol!

Camp, are there members of the Xanthoxlum tribe able to grow to that size? Here we've got "toothache tree"-actually a shrub, also known as prickly ash, an obvious misnomer since it's not in Fraxinus. Interestingly, the leaves of our version can and do numb the insides of one's mouth when sucked on. But as popular as this attribute may be, the plant is much more likely to engender curses as one makes their way through the woods, getting scratched by these &^%$# things!

Chris G., It sounds to me like the senior worker @ landscaping company just gave you a nonsensical answer. Likewise the site you pulled up shows pic which could well be an ancient grapevine which has been pruned for many decades, equally irrelevant.

Here's a suggestion, why not start a new thread and tell us what your requirements are and we will recommend a tree?

Thanks, Dr. Sam (if I can be presumptuous with your moniker). It was more of an opportunistic thing. The open spot is more appropriate for a bush, but I'm quite enjoying the snapdragons I planted this year there.

Or possibly an old heavily pruned wisteria, maybe tree form.

Chris, just call the guy and try to get some more info on the tree, that pic you posted looks like an interesting tree. Maybe it's a "contorted willow"?