Trees the Spanish miss, from time to time (4)
I believe the answer is:
elms
'trees' is the definition.
(elm is a kind of tree)
'the spanish miss from time to time' is the wordplay.
'the spanish' becomes 'el' ('the' in Spanish).
'from time to time' means one should take alternating letters (letters removed on a regular basis).
The alternating letters of 'miss' are 'ms'.
'el'+'ms'='ELMS'
(Other definitions for elms that I've seen before include "Deciduous trees with rough serrated leaves" , "rugged feature of country churchyard" , "Trees sound like Cockney steering devices" , "may have many leaves" , "Mel's strange trees" .)