| HOME | Hedges & Hedge Trimming |
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A hedge should be a hedge.... If you haven't seen the beech hedge at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, it is worth a visit. Straight as a die & five times the length of the average garden it is an inspiration for hedge trimming.
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| Conversely, be brutal(ish!) on parts of the hedge that stick out. The only way to get a straight hedge is to cut away areas which come proud of that magic 'front face line'. Where the wood is thick at the face of the hedge, it is best if possible, to go in a few inches and remove this.This way the finished hedge is formed in these places by new growth. Otherwise new growth will have to be removed as soon as it starts growing as it will be over your 'front face line'. But,...be careful not to cut any stems to which large areas of growth are connected. Use your eye close to the end of the hedge to identify what needs cut - & what does not. |  |
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It's sometimes possible to tie in parts of the hedge which have come proud of the face line. Rubber tree ties are good for this. If using wire, take care not to strangle the stems. Try to pad it where it comes into contact with the bark. |
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Here a large conifer hedge of various species is reduced using ladders & rope access. The ladders are helpful in giving a height guide as once 'inside' the hedge it can be tricky knowing where to cut. The grounds person - & even the customer can help here too! |
| This hedge was reduced by about half, & though the species are vigorous, the sides were not cut this time. To do so would have left hardly any green material left. The light will now get in to the middle of the hedge & encourage green growth closer to the centre. When the sides are trimmed the following year, with luck there may be new growth already coming in the middle to take over from the green growth to be cut from the sides. |
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Often people are reluctant to reduce the size of a hedge because of the neighbours bedroom windows. If the hedge gets too tall & dense higher up, the light stops getting to the lower parts & they can begin to die off. This can mean that soon you can see your neighbours kitchen windows instead.
A hedge planted next to a solid fence such as larch lap, which doesn't let any light though at all, will not develope properly lower down. This is OK if the fence is to stay, but if you wish to replace a fence with a hedge eventually, try to give some light to the lower parts of the hedge, possibly by removing some of the weavings in larch lap once the hedge gets going.
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