Hedge trimming is routine work that is very easy to do in a way that slowly ruins the plant. It is also a job people search for on its own, because a large hedge is a genuinely big piece of work that most homeowners are not set up to handle from a ladder.
Cut to the plant
There is no single right time. Laurel and privet take a cut in late spring and another in late summer. Conifers are cut once a season and only into the current year’s growth, because most will not break from bare old wood. Flowering shrubs are cut after they flower, or next year’s buds go in the green waste.
Getting this wrong is what produces the two most common problems we are called to fix: a hedge that is bare through the middle, and a shrub that has been cut back so hard it will not recover.
Shape matters as much as timing
A hedge should be slightly wider at the base than at the top. It looks counterintuitive and it is the whole reason a hedge stays dense: the lower growth needs light, and a hedge cut straight up and down or wider at the top shades its own base until that growth dies off.
Once a hedge is bare at the bottom, correcting it is a two or three season job of staged cutting rather than anything that can be fixed in an afternoon.
What we handle
- Laurel, privet, boxwood and mixed evergreen hedges
- Conifer hedging, cut into current growth
- Large hedges needing access equipment rather than a ladder
- Shrub shaping and staged renovation of overgrown planting
- Sight lines cut back at corners, paths and driveways
- All green waste hauled off the property
Trimming is part of the standing scope on recurring maintenance. Larger hedge work is quoted separately, because a 200 foot laurel run is a project rather than a task.
Common questions
Why is my hedge bare in the middle?
Because it was cut wider at the top than the bottom, so the lower growth never got light. Correcting it takes two or three seasons of staged cutting rather than one hard cut.
When should a hedge be cut?
It depends on the species. Laurel and privet take a cut in late spring and again in late summer. Conifers are cut once, into current growth only. Flowering shrubs are cut after they flower, or you remove next year's buds.
Can you take a large hedge down in height?
Usually yes, though it is a staged job on most species. Taking a lot off at once on a plant that will not break from old wood leaves a bare face that never fills back in.