Hedge Trimming and Garden Maintenance
Formative Hedge Pruning & Maintenance Trimming
There are two main types of hedge trimming, depending on what types of hedges you have.
There is formative pruning, which is needed in winter or early spring for young hedges that have not yet fully established themselves and need training to grow in the desired way.
Once the hedge is established, however, maintenance trimming is carried out, which generally happens once or twice a year, although some faster-growing hedges may need 3 cuts per year.
Yew hedge trimming
Yew hedges are forgiving hedges and provide some of the densest evergreen hedges there is. To make them bushy, you need to clip them. By shortening the side branches, this causes twiggy growths that make them dense.
A mature yew hedge can be pruned at any time of the season, apart from freezing winter. Early on, we would recommend gently clipping in April, July and October for the first couple of years at least.
Always remember to leave the growing point along, as this can grow up to 40cm per season and helps your yew increase height. As the hedge grows, remember to keep forming the hedge to a tapered shape to allow light to get to the lower branches.
Leyland Cypress hedges
Leyland Cypress, often referred to as Leylandii, is a fast growing coniferous evergreen tree that provides excellent coverage as a hedge. They generally grow around 1m per year and can cope with most soil conditions.
Because it is so fast-growing, a leyland cypress hedge needs to be trimming twice or three times per year to control its growth and maintain its shape. And this is best done during the growing season between March and August. If allowed to grow without being controlled, it can potentially cause issues with neighbours, as they block out light and become unsightly.
Beech hedges
Although beech hedges are often described as deciduous plants, they can often retain the majority of their leaves throughout winter if pruned at the right time. The great thing about beech hedges is their striking looking leaves that turn from green in the summer to coppery organise and brown in the autumn. These leaves stay on the hedge until they are ready to make way for new growth in spring. For these reasons, beech hedging provides an alternative to evergreen hedging, with year-round interest to admire.
In order to keep the foliage thick throughout winter, we recommend that a beech hedge is pruned in August in order to keep the foliage thick throughout winter. By doing that, the hedge will give the privacy of an evergreen hedge.
Beech hedging is considered relatively fast-growing, with around 30-60cm of growth per year. It can be trimmed to any height but if left to grow, it can heights of more than 15 metres (45ft) tall.
Privet hedges
Privet hedging is a semi-evergreen hedging species, meaning that they hold their leaves over the cold winter months and then shed them in the late winter or early spring. They then replace those leaves with new leaves almost immediately.
To maintain a privet hedge, prune once or twice a year to keep a traditional ‘hedge’ shape. Birds can sometimes nest in privet hedging, so we check for these before commencing work.
Laurel hedges
Laurel hedges – sometimes called Cherry Laurel – are exceptionally hardy evergreen screening plants that are densely foliated with large glossy leaves all year round.
Reaching heights of up to 40 feet with a 25-foot spread, laurels need to be pruned once a year. The best time to do this is late spring/early summer when there is lots of new growth. If your hedge is on a boundary with a next-door neighbour, it will need to be trimmed on their side as well.
As well as its stunning leaves, Cherry Laurel hedging also produces delicate white flowers in April and red berries throughout the winter.