Hedges can bounce back from late trim
Sometimes it’s just not possible to stick to a timetable. Stuff happens, ill winds blow and, suddenly, a job that should have been done and dusted is way past its deadline.
Thus it is with pruning hedges. But thankfully, many hedges are capable of bouncing back from a short back and sides a few weeks later than expected. The one thing gardeners do need to heed, however, is the bird-nesting season – probably from the start of this month until the end of July.
The biggest problem with a hedge is usually its owner. They start off full of good intentions – preparing the soil, doing the planting and watering, but not many do any formative pruning to train a young deciduous hedge so that it keeps its shape.
This formative pruning is normally carried out in winter after planting and for the first two years after planting. Then, each year, it’s normally a case of a bit of light pruning to keep things looking good.
With new evergreen hedges, the formative pruning should be carried out in the spring after planting and for the first two years after that before adopting the annual trim.
Formal hedges need a bit more work, so if you fancy a Box hedge, Buxus sempervirens, it could mean trimming two or three times during the growing season. The same applies to privet, Ligustrum, although holly, Ilex aquifolium, rarely requires more than one trim a year.
Conifer hedges demand a different regime – twice a year for Chamaecyparis lawsoniana (Lawson cypress), and even three times a year for Cuprocyparis leylandii (Leyland cypress).
With conifer hedges, try not to trim them after August, because this can encourage bare patches to develop.
Taxus baccata (yew) can be trimmed twice a year, in summer and autumn.
Formal deciduous hedges, such as Carpinus betulus (hornbeam) and Fagus sylvatica (beech) probably need just one going-over towards the end of summer.