In this video, This Old House landscape contractor Roger Cook explains how to prune a privet hedge. You can prune a laurel hedge with secateurs - which is not as labour-intensive as it sounds – or with a hedgetrimmer. This is a great time to prune photinia red robin and can help you maintain height and width depending on how much you trim off the branch. For the first two years after planting your beech, you should shorten the longer shoots to encourage growth without losing too much of the height. When to prune a beech hedge: You should trim your beech hedge in the second week of August. If you want to learn about pruning yew bushes, including how to prune an overgrown yew, read on. Prune your hedge every year. In the second spring, cut back all the new growth that developed over the previous growing season so that the camellia is at the desired height once again. The sides can be cut back too - a process known as "splitting" a hedge. The only things to remember are that The Purple Copper Beech, unlike the European Beech, will tolerate neither an acidic soil nor partial shade. To achieve a nice dense hedge, plant your bushes closely: not more than 18” apart. These are often used in hedges. I've read in various places that it's OK to severely cut back a beech hedge on the sides, but with a severe prune to only do one side at a time. Your beech hedge will look tidier and grow thicker if you prune the plant in the end of summer or early autumn. This Old House landscape contractor Roger Cook saves a neglected, unkempt hedge. This is best carried out after flowering, of at any time during the summer. Where to use it in your garden . There is some problem with foundations and clay soils in that they are dynamic ith the wet/dry cycle. The branches over the path should be cut to retain some green growth and then cut regularly to keep the hedge under control. If the sides need drastic reduction, then do one side and the top in the first year, leaving the other side to the second year. But if you do the same thing to coppice-wood – especially if you cut it off close to the ground – new shoots will immediately start re-growing vigourously from what is sometimes called its 'stool' but which ordinary mortals call the stump. Warning . It will shoot away in the Spring. You might need permission from your local council to cut back or remove a hedge if you live in a conservation area or if trees in the hedge are protected by a tree preservation order. If you’re certain you have no nesting birds in your hedges you can prune them between Spring and Summer. Consider a slower growing species such as beech. The first question when you are pruning yew bushes is when to pick up the pruners. The highways authority can ask you to cut back hedges or trees on your property if they’re causing an obstruction in the road. Both a European or Purple Copper Beech hedge can be planted by following the standard guidelines for the vast majority of hedging plants. Deciduous hedges are best pruned with secateurs, rather than with a hedge trimmer or shears. Generally, the domestic hedge trimming season is either Spring or Winter. You’ll also want to do this with a hedge if you want to limit how tall it grows, but most hedge owners are happy to have tall hedges. (See below for hard pruning). The RHS site says: "To renovate an overgrown beech hedge, cut it back hard in February while still dormant. The old saw that the best time to prune is when the shears are in your hand is true for common privet hedges (Ligustrum vulgare, USDA zones 5 through 8). This means the hedge always has some green leaves to fuel the plant as it regrows. Beech have surface rooting tendancies, but nowhere near as bad as willow. If 10ft high, I would have cut it down to a reasonable height before moving it. Keep plants well watered in the first two years and the area around the plants weed-free. Ideally they should be cut back after each flush to keep them tidy. You can probably reduce the height of the hedge if you wish. We have a long beech hedge too. Height – 30 to 50 feet (10 to 15 meters) Exposure – full sun Soil – ordinary Foliage – deciduous Flowering – spring. Name – Carpinus Family – Betulaceae Type – tree. In my book, at least, a beech is always the first among equals. If you are happy over the years that the screen has formed into a dense hedge and can support itself you can remove the canes or keep them on – its really up to you to decide on this. Formal hedges, however, may need maintenance from 2 to 3 times. As well as providing a valuable feature within the garden they are also useful for dividing one part of the garden from another. this might sound a daft question, but why do you want a fence as opposed to a hedge? Roses are increasingly popular grown as spectacular flowering hedges which can be pruned between 2½ft to over 6ft in height. And finally, when your goal is simply to grow a mighty beech tree, you will do best to prune it in winter. Takeaways. Also to cut back from 3' to 12" is OK? That's fine as I don't want to do the other side. You can renovate a large hedge by cutting right back to the main trunk. How to grow a privet hedge. The more mature the tree is when purchased the bushier and more dense coverage across the frames. It is safest to start cutting back … The beech would soon grow through the netting and would look good all year round. Then, trim back the camellia again in the third year to remove the bushy crown and reduce the growth to the preferred height. September is the best month to do it. As with the arborvitae hedge, plant the sequoias as far away as you can; no partnering gesture is worth doing if, a century and more down the road, it would be crowding the beech. The idea is to take off one side of the hedge this spring and the other side next spring or in two years time. As stated above the construction of the foundation means more then the tree. If you live in a conservation area, or there are any trees in the hedge that are protected by a tree preservation order then you might need your council’s permission to trim them. A new hedge needs to have a trench (or individual holes if you prefer) large enough so the roots can spread out naturally, surrounded by well-prepared soil they can grow into and establish, not have their root system squeezed into the smallest possible hole. Keeping it trimmed regularly will also mean the foliage stays dense down to ground level. You've probably seen this with the cracks in the lawn when in drought season. They can also be cut back in winter. If you simply cut the top off an oak or a beech, it will probably die. However often you choose to cut your Leylandii hedge and whether you use shears or a hedge trimmer, do make sure that they are sharp. To keep them in check - both for height and spread - drastic annual pruning may be required. To renovate an overgrown beech hedge, cut it back hard in February while still dormant but delay if the weather is very cold. Do ensure you can get behind the hedge to trim it. Informal hedges require a one-time cut throughout the year. You do not make it entirely clear; is the hedge 10ft high or is the length of the hedge 10ft? No amount of thinning and removing dead wood is going to turn that last picture in to a healthy hedge in our lifetime. Clipping at the wrong time can have unpleasant consequences. Frequently trimmed Leylandii hedges can look very fine indeed, especially in a garden setting – and there are far fewer clippings to clear up and dispose of afterwards. Top tips YOU need to remember when trimming your garden’s hedges this summer GARDENING expert Monty Don has revealed a list of important things you should remember when cutting your hedges. What I can't seem to find is WHEN is the best time to do such a severe side pruning? Don’t be afraid to cut the hedge back fairly hard as this will help it grow thick and dense. Some plants you cannot cut into the dead wood, you have to cut back only so far as new growth. (See below for a shopping list and tools.) The tree will respond with vigorous growth when spring arrives. After the summer growth spurt, deciduous hedges, like beech and hornbeam, need to be pruned before the leaves change colour and fall. Some parts are possibly worth restoring, but others need replanting as they're too far gone. Autumn is the best time because you will be able to avoid disturbing nesting birds because your hedge plants will be dormant and will lack leaves. Remember to give the hedge a granular, slow release feed to help it put on good growth. If the height needs reducing by 50 percent or more, then stagger pruning over two seasons rather than doing it all at once. Fast-growing, it can create a dense, long-lasting hedge with a mature height and spread of about 4m. Unlike some conifers, yews usually respond well to pruning. The height of the hedge could be reduced by about a third to approximately 2 metres, a manageable height. 3 Where one stem branches into two, cut just above the Y-shaped split. If this is not possible, there may not be enough green growth, it would be better to replace the hedge. Pruning a Yew Shrub. Major hornbeam facts. If you need some sort of dog-proof boundary, for example, you could have some stock netting + associated posts. Privet is a popular choice for city, country and coastal hedges. Grow privet in moist but well-drained soil in sun to shade. Cut back the top in the first year, then one side of the hedge in the next year before finally cutting the other side in the third year. Steps: 1 Use loppers to remove one-third of the older stems, so sunlight can penetrate the hedge's interior. 2 Find long stems that grow out of hedge, and snip them close to the ground. If you cut it with a hedgetrimmer in late spring or early summer, it will put on new growth that will quickly grow over any “tatty” leaves left by the hedgetrimmer. Leylandii trees will grow very tall (over 30m or 100ft) if left untrimmed but like a Beech tree/hedge can be kept trimmed to heights as low as 1m (3ft) tall. Photinia hedges are fast growing and if you want to have a beautiful Photinia then they must be pruned. It is far better to cut back the individual branches quite hard with a lopper - rather than being too fussy with hedge clippers. My neighbour has advised us to cut back in June & October, but now would also be good I think, and maybe not too drastic all in one go, as your gut feeling already tells you - one golden rule is to avoid pruning hedges during birds' nesting season, so if you do the first haircut straight away you'll be safe on that count. If you have leylandii growing on your land, you should be aware of the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003: Part 8 which states that if a hedge, in other words a row of two or more predominantly evergreen trees, is allowed to reach a height that exceeds two metres, then it will be classed as a ‘high hedge’ and therefore governed by legislation which is designed to protect people from nuisance. I have done this with a hawthorn hedge and now the posts/netting are hidden by the hedge itself. Hornbeam or blue-beech is a common tree in our forests, and it also appears in many parks and gardens. The form of pruning really depends on how the shrub has been planted. 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