Hedges really add a lot to the appearance of your home but to keep them and your home looking their best they need to be trimmed every season. So here are some tips to maintain your hedges and shrubs.
When it comes to shrubbery, there are two main styles, informal and formal. Informal hedge trimming gives the plant a natural appearance while formal hedge trimming creates straight lines, angles and curves.
We’re going to cover basic trimming techniques for both types of hedges. Now, depending on the type of hedge you have and the size of your hedge you may need some of the following tools, a variety of pruners, loppers and shears, a ladder, work gloves and safety glasses. You can find a tool list along with some helpful trimming diagrams in the printable instructions with this video at Lowes.com/videos. Always think safety first, don’t work above the second last step on your ladder and don’t lean into the plant to cut hard to reach branches and of course, wear safety glasses.
Think of your hedges as small trees. Pruning them is a similar process and you can find some tips in our how-to prune trees video. But, the main reason you need to prune hedges and shrubs is to keep the plant healthy. Dead limbs can promote disease and damage to other limbs. Making sure all limbs are getting plenty of air and sunlight will minimize problems with fungus and disease.
Now if you’re just planting hedges, it’s best to wait about a year before you begin trimming them. This will help prevent that thick leaf cover that might kill the plant life near the roots and trunk.
The best time of season to trim your hedges depends on when the plant blooms. If your shrubs or hedges have flowers that blossoms in early spring, trim them after the bloom during summer. If they blossom in late spring, it’s best to trim them in fall or winter. For non-flowering hedges, you should avoid pruning from the time the buds swell to the time the leaves are fully formed. You can also do some light pruning on any type of hedge during the summer just to keep the plant looking good.
Now there are a few common misconceptions about the proper way to prune hedges. Typically, people will just top off the ends of the limbs. That’s not want you want to do. Every cut you make encourages new grow so when you cut just the tops, the hedge grows a thicker cover preventing air and sunlight from reaching the inner limbs of the plant.
Another mistake is pruning the plant so that the top is wider than the base. If you do that, the longer top branches can block sunlight from reaching the base of the plant and eventually, the lower limbs will die. Also, you don’t want to overdo it.
A good rule of thumb when you’re trimming is to remove only about one-third of the limbs. This helps the plant stay strong. So rehabilitating a severely damaged shrub back to full health might take two or three growing seasons.
Okay now, keeping those ideas in mind, let’s cover some pruning techniques. We’ll start with informal hedges first. Now as I said before, the dead limbs need to come off. So cut them back at the base of the plant. Now if you pull the branches back, you might see some dead spots beneath the cover, these areas need sunlight and air. So remove some of the limbs to thin out the outer leaf cover.
Now let’s talk about formal hedges. Now beside the tools we mentioned before, you’ll also need hedge shears, an extension cord, stakes, string, a hammer, a square and a tape measure.
We’ll start with some of the same techniques as we did with informal hedges. Removing dead limbs and trimming the cover. Now, although this nice, thick green cover might look good now eventually, the inner limbs may die and the plant could turn brown. So just do some general trimming to start to get some sunlight into the covered areas.
But what about shaping the hedges? Well, to achieve that formal look there are few things to consider. What type of hedge do you have and what shape do you want. Now only certain types of hedges like boxwood or holly will be able to take on a geometric look. Other types will only support an informal appearance.
Then there is the overall look you’re going for. Well, just stand back and envision the results before you begin cutting. On our hedges, we’re going to create some straight line cuts. Now, there is couple of ways of doing it. To get a straight cut on the top and sides, you can use references like the edge of your house or a column or windows or you can make some guides using stakes and string.
First, pound two sticks at one end of the head row. Set them at the desired width of the bush. About every ten feet, set stakes on each side of the hedges at that same width. Then tie strings around the stakes at the desired height. You can use a square to make sure the stakes are aligned up. Now, just run your pruners across the top of the hedges at a steady pace to get a nice even cut. Now you can use the stakes and string to trim the sides too. Remember what we said earlier; cut the top of the bush narrower than the bottom. So sunlight can reach the lower branches.
To get that nice beveled look, set the stakes that will mark the bottom, a little farther out. Tie strings along each row of stake to form a guide; then cut along the strings. You should get a straight cut so we get the lower branches the sunlight they need.
Once you make all your cuts, remove the stakes and check the hedges over for any minor clipping that my still be needed. So as some simple pruning techniques, these hedges look great.
Now, if you’re looking for other ways to improve the look of your landscape, check out other outdoor how-to projects at Lowes.com/videos.
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