IS IT POSSIBLE TO RESTORE AN OLD OVERGROWN HEDGE?

A well maintained hedge can last for centuries. Indeed old boundary hedges in Britain may be over a thousand years old. But modern garden hedges are often created from a range of exotic plants and may not look good when they get old. They become too thick, gappy, full of weeds or diseased and you may be faced with the options of removing them or trying to restore them to a more useful and attractive state. So just what kind of restoration is possible.

For most conifers the possibilites are limited. When old they are usually green on the outside but the inside of them is brown, old wood. With the exception of Yew these old conifers will not re-grow if you cut back into the brown branches. They will remain brown and an eyesore. Yew however is capable of growing from brown, unpromising wood although decent regrowth may take a year or two. To restore such a Yew Hedge it is recommended to undertake the job over a couple of years cutting back one side at a time. The best time to undertake this is in spring when evergreens tend to be less active. Start near the base on one side of the hedge and move upwards cutting inside the desired final shape to allow the hedge to grow to its final shape. After this pruning the hedge should be given a dressing of general fertiliser and a mulch of organic matter to help it to recover from the works. There is no point in attempting this with a Leyland Cypress or other conifer as new shoots will not grow from the old brown wood that severe cutting will expose.

There are many other evergreen hedges which can take quite severe pruning. For instance Escallonia, Holly, Laurel and Privet can recover from fairly severe pruning in mid to late spring. They will also benefit from a feed and mulch to encourage regrowth. When reshaping remember it is normal to create hedges, especially evergreens, which are a little wider at the top than the bottom. This allows extra light to the base of the hedge which is usually more often in shadow.

Deciduous hedging plants such as the traditional Hawthorn, Beech or Blackthorn can take very severe reduction. Indeed the classic way of keeping farm boundaries as effective barriers to cattle and sheep is to lay them during the winter. This involves cutting deep into the main shoots of the plants near their bases and bending them over. They will regrow as a denser hedge than before they were cut. This is rarely appropriate for garden hedges however where a visual and practical barrier is normally needed throughout the year. It is worth noting that these plants will take any amount of reduction even down to ground level if needed. The general principle is to reduce the height and width of the old hedge to a foot or two inside the desired final height and width. The regrowth can then be trimmed each year to the shape needed

Hedges thrive on annual or more frequent clipping. This keeps the individual shoots and branches dividing from their bases instead of their ends. The result is a denser hedge restricted to the shape you want. If you leave the hedge for a year or two between cuts it will soon become a row of individual plants instead of a dense, well knitted hedge.