Hedge Maintenance in St Albans

• WorkHedge maintenance, trimming and shaping
• AreaSt Albans
• SubjectLarge evergreen bush
• PositionBack garden, beside a fence

This job was a large evergreen bush in a back garden in St Albans. Over time it had grown well beyond the space it was meant to fill, so it needed cutting back to a size that suits the garden and shaping so that it looks deliberate rather than overgrown.

We trimmed the whole of the bush back to size and shaped it into a rounded block, working all the way round so the outline is even from every side. The photos show the result: a dense, tidy head of leaf sitting above the clear stems, with the patio and seating below left usable.

What the job involved

• Cutting the bush back from its overgrown size to a size that suits the garden
• Shaping the top and sides into a clean, rounded outline
• Keeping the shape even from every side, not just the side facing the house
• Clearing the cuttings away so the patio and garden were left tidy

Keeping a large bush in shape

A large evergreen that is trimmed once and then left will put on a full season of new growth and lose its shape. Cutting it back to size is the bigger job; keeping the shape afterwards is a much lighter trim each year, and it is far easier on the plant than letting it grow out and cutting hard back into old wood.

Our guide on how often garden hedges should be cut explains how to set an interval, and the one on the best time of year to reduce an overgrown hedge covers the timing for bigger reductions.