How a hedge gets trimmed back into shape
The visit is slower than it looks, because the final shape depends on what the crew leaves on the branches. We take off a little at a time.
1. A look at the hedge with you
We walk the row with you. Height you want, windows and walks to clear, blooms you want to wait for, bare spots to hide, a top that looks straight from the sidewalk. If the row is on a slope, that comes in here too. We note what we would take and show you the line on the hedge itself before anything runs.
2. A tarp down along the base
Before any blade starts, a tarp goes along the base. Clippings land on the tarp, not in the bed. Mulch, groundcover and the bed stay where they are. On a hedge against the house, the tarp also keeps clippings off the siding and the window sills.
3. Trimming from the ground
The trimmer or the shears stay in both hands, at chest height or lower. The crew moves along the row at a steady pace, the shape coming off in short strokes. Hedge work never leaves the ground, so no ladders and nothing near a power line.
A plant taller than the crew can reach with both hands on a trimmer at chest height is past hedge work. We say so when you describe the row rather than start on it.
4. Wider at the base than the top
A hedge trimmed flat on the sides, with the top wider than the bottom, loses the lower leaves over time. We taper it, keeping the base a touch wider than the crown so light still reaches the lower branches. For an older boxwood or ligustrum that has already gone bare at the bottom, we leave it a little taller on this visit and let the base come in over later cuts.
5. Flat tops or natural shapes
What the top looks like is your call. A flat, formal cut looks crisp from the sidewalk; a natural shape softens the row and asks less often for a trim. Azaleas and Indian hawthorn tend to look right in a natural shape; boxwood and ligustrum take either.
6. Clippings off the tarp
Clippings come off the tarp into bags or bundles, depending on how thick the trim pieces are. We settle how the bags and bundles leave when we price the job.
7. A last look with you
We walk the row one more time before packing out, you with us if you are home. A corner that still looks soft gets a second pass with the shears before we go. If the lawn is up next, grass cutting while we are there is the easier add; the edges and beds pick up where the hedge stops.
| Shrub | How it is usually kept | When we wait |
|---|---|---|
| Boxwood | Formal, flat or domed, kept short | Severe heat; a few days of wait is safer than cutting at midday |
| Ligustrum | Short formal rows or taller screens, several light trims a year | Flowering, if you want the berries to follow |
| Azalea | Light natural shape after the spring flowers fade | Before new buds set for next year |
| Holly | Natural or formal; new growth hardens before a shaping cut | If you want the berries that follow the bloom |
| Indian hawthorn | Light shaping after the spring bloom | While the plant is flowering |
| Yaupon or dwarf hedge | Light growing-season trims, more often than larger shrubs | Severe heat or a wet day |
For a hedge-by-hedge calendar, when to trim each shrub runs through the Baton Rouge year.
Hedges and shrubs the crew can reach from the ground
Rows along a walk or under a window and single shrubs in the beds are all hedge work.
When hedge trimming is the right job
- A row of boxwood, ligustrum, azalea or similar shrubs that can be reached from the ground.
- A single shrub out of shape, under a window or along a walk.
- A long row that has outgrown the shape it used to hold.
- A hedge that is losing the bottom and needs to be set up to come back.
When another service fits better
- A yard that wants the lawn kept too; add the lawn on a regular schedule and the hedges when they are due.
- Beds thick with weeds under the shrubs; the beds under the hedges are their own visit.
Height off the ground, trunk thickness and how close the plant is to a wire usually settle which visit the yard needs.
