Trimming and Shaping, Thinning and Creating a Lovely Hedge
Have you heard the term “a little and often”? If you want a great looking lawn, then clipping the grass just a little and often ensures a fantastically well-manicured lawn. It is the same with hedge trimming. Trimming your hedges just a little and often not only makes the job easier, but the hedges look neater and tidier. Leaving a hedge that has prolific growth (e.g. a conifer) to be cut or trimmed just once a year or even once every two years makes the job a whole lot harder. It’s also true that the more you have to take off a hedge at any one time, then the greater the shock to the hedge; thus, the hedge’s recovery time will be longer. If you want your hedges to be looking their best, then the task of hedge trimming is one that needs to be done on time every time.
How Often Are Hedge Trimming Services Needed?
Of course, the wide variety of plant species that are used or can be used as a hedge is extensive, so it’s important to ensure that any hedge trimming work coincides with the particular requirements of each variety of hedge plant in your garden. For instance, you’ll need to trim a box hedge (Buxus) or red robin (Photinia) two to three times a year, which can be done at any time of the year. However, if you have a holly (Ilex) hedge, then these need to be trimmed just the once and in spring. Camelias need to be trimmed after flowering.
Hedge Trimming
Hedge trimming can also mean renovating an old overgrown hedge, which overlaps with the work of crown thinning and tree crown reduction carried out by tree surgeons. Renovating an old and woody hedge should be done in stages to avoid stressing the plants too much – that’s basic tree care. Overstress trees and hedges and they will die; however, if you stagger the heavy pruning and shaping over two or three years, the overgrown hedge can take time to recover from the gradual shaping, finally recovering to a wonderfully luscious, neatly trimmed hedge. Experienced tree surgeons and arborists would suggest pruning back one side one year, the top the next, and the other side the following year. Remember that new growth from a woody stem is susceptible to frosts, so the principles of arboriculture say you should ensure that the hard pruning is done in spring. As a rule of thumb, start hedge pruning and in early spring, before the leaves appear with deciduous plants or when new growth begins with evergreens. Conifers can dislike heavy prunes, so take care or they’ll die off completely, requiring complete tree removal and a lot of fuss – again, start heavy renovation pruning involving branch removal and crown thinning in spring.
Why You Need A Tree Specialist
Unless you’ve been hedge pruning for years, then it’s advisable to use some kind of guideline to achieve that nice clean straight line across the top. Hedge trimming inside a typical garden usually makes use of tools consisting of powered hedge trimmers, secateurs and loppers for doing the best job. Some people like to use manual hedge clippers. Taller hedges are more difficult to cut and you’ll need to make use of telescopic hedge trimmers, ladders or a sturdy plank between two ladders.
If all this sounds a bit too hard, then get in touch with the hedge cutting services and tree surgeons of Primus Tree Surgeons We deliver top quality tree care services, including hedge trimming, as well as the great advice and expertise in arboriculture given by our expert tree specialists. We provide hedge cutting, tree trimming, crown reduction and other tree surgery services all across the Greater London Metropolitan Area. We cater to the needs of domestic and commercial customers, and you can book one of our tree care experts in for regular hedge trimming or just on a one-off as needed basis.