Tips and Tricks for Hedge Trimming

Trimming hedges not only enhances the beauty of your landscape but also promotes healthy plant growth and maintains pleasing proportions between the different types of plants and the environment in which they are located. Whether you use manually operated tools or powered equipment, proper techniques are essential for achieving neat, well-shaped hedges and shrubs. 

If you’re not confident of your ability to shape something evenly, use stakes and string to mark straight lines or curves as a guide. If the use of those is not practical, use something in the background to give you a guide.

For this holly hedge, I would use the bottom of the windows to provide me with a cut line. I would step back 10-15ft and select a branch or twig to give me my first location to cut. That process would be repeated at several locations. Then it would just be a matter of joining the dots.

One of the common mistakes with hedge cutting is not considering the background. In the photo below, the holly hedge has been cut level with the ground. Unfortunately, doing this creates an optical illusion that the house is out of alignment with its foundation ‘display’ garden. 

This hedge has been trimmed perpendicular to the ground, which is not the dominant feature for a cutting line. Photo by Judith Paul.

The dominant feature for a cutting line for this foundation garden are the pillars and the base of the window.  Using these would achieve a more balanced and harmonious look. Photo by Judith Paul.

This is an understandable mistake, often because the trimmers are held at the most comfortable level for the user, who then side-steps up or down the slope. The cutters remain perpendicular to the ground rather than perpendicular to the dominant lines of the background. 

In the photo below, the dominant line is the lower bar of the rustic fence. Even though the siding and foundation of the house highlight the fact that there is a slope, using the house to provide the cutting guide would result in the rustic fence being partially obscured!

The dominant cutting guide in this instance is the rustic fence, not the house. Photo by Judith Paul.

Regardless of whatever you are using to guide your cuts, point the tool in the direction of the line you are creating.

The cutting guide for the height of this hedge is the lower bar on the rustic fence. The clippers are pointed horizontally a few inches below this cutting guide to create an even edge. Photo by Judith Paul.

The cutting guide for the width of this hedge  are the edging rocks. The clippers are pointed vertically  down to consistently cut the growth back to a few inches of the line created by this edging. Photo by Judith Paul.

Once a shrub has been cut back, it may only take a few minutes to maintain it. Dappled Willow is a fast grower during the warm months but as the days get shorter and temperatures drop, new growth slows down. The shrub pictured below was trimmed in late August, but since then, it has shot out a few twigs that are quite noticeable. It was the work of a few minutes to remove those.

Dappled Willow (Salix integra ‘Hakuro Nishiki’) with a dozen or so offshoots that were quite noticeable. Photo by Judith Paul.

The same Dappled Willow was tidied up using pre-existing cut lines on the plant as a guide. Photo by Judith Paul.

The experienced staff at Plant Lane Farm can expertly manage your garden clean-ups. They know how and when to trim plants to keep them healthy and looking their best.

Coaching sessions on how to achieve this yourself are also available.

Availability is limited so contact Plant Lane Farm ASAP to organize a free consultation with a qualified plant professional.

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Tips and Tricks for Hedge Trimming

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Article by

Judith Paul

Hi, I'm Judith Paul, with a gardening style best described as “Oooo, there’s a gap over here!” My work history is equally unpredictable (possibly even quirky) and ranges from pulling eel-infested cow carcasses out of creeks to managing multi-million-dollar projects across various industries. I’m a Kiwi (referring to the iconic flightless bird of NZ, not the fruit) who has also lived in Australia. Currently, I run a licensed and inspected plant propagation nursery in North Carolina (USA) when I’m not teaching, writing, or editing.