How to Trim an Evergreen Hedge
Evergreen hedges keep their foliage year-round, so they are a good choice for ensuring privacy all year. Hedges can also provide floral interest for your landscape, especially if you use flowering evergreen hedges such as holly and azalea. Hedges can be trimmed for a formal or informal look. Evergreen hedges look their best and stay healthier when you trim them at the proper time and use the right tools. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Begin trimming new evergreen hedges during the second growing season. Prune the hedge's branches with hand shears to maintain shape and size.
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Trim the hedge when it's new, so that it slopes down from the top of the hedge to a broad base. Use hand shears to prune evergreen hedges when they're new.
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Prune slow-growing, narrow-leaved evergreens, such as yew and arborvitae, with hand pruners in late spring or in early summer. Look for the leaves to turn from a light green to a dark green.
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Trim broad-leaf evergreen hedges, such as boxwood, several times throughout the growing season with hedge shears. Prune the hedge in spring and trim branches as needed until the fall.
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Trim fast-growing evergreen hedges, such as hemlock, after new growth has begun in the spring, and trim a second time in late July. During the first and second growing seasons, cut the hedges short by one-third to half their height.
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Tips & Warnings
Trimming a new hedge to give it shape will produce a fuller hedge and allow sunlight to reach the lower branches, as well as allow air flow through the hedge.
A plant is slow-growing if new growth in the spring is five inches or less.
For hedges that are 18 inches high and no more than a foot wide, use shears with 13-inch blades.
Use 30-inch-long blade shears, or longer, for tall hedges.
Evergreen hedges such as the yew, arborvitae and hemlock shrubs can be pruned heavily if needed. Cut back stems by at least six inches each time they grow one foot in height until the evergreen hedge reaches maturity.
Don't cut the inside branches of evergreen hedges if you want a formal look. Only trim branches inside and at ground level if you want an informal look. Cut them back by at least six inches.
Don't trim broad-leaved evergreens heavily. Prune these hedges only to maintain shape.
Remove overgrown or neglected hedges and plant new ones. Hedges that are in this shape won't produce new growth.
