The perils of chopping down an established hedge....

When considering chopping down a large, well-established Yew hedge, it is always a good idea to check what will be revealed by any such drastic action....

Here is a Before and After shot of my friend's garden. The two abutting Yew hedges were getting a bit big, both in height and in width, and the owner was tired of having to pay to have them clipped twice a year.

"They're overshadowing the bed" she said.

"Nothing will grow in that bed" she said. (Not, strictly speaking, true.)

"I'm tired of that dull old Yew," she said.

"It'll be much cheaper to have a nice fence, then I need only pay for it once." she said.

In vain, did I plead to keep the hedge. "Let's just chop it right back," I suggested: "We could push it back to the main trunks, that would take it back to the boundary line, and it will only take a few months to green up."

"But what will it look like, in the meantime?" she asked.

"Well, " I said, honestly: "It will be bare brown stems for a couple of months, then it will start to grow again, and by this time next year, you will be able to start running the hedgetrimmers over it again."

"But it will just grow back," she objected, "and in no time, I'll be back in this situation."

"Not for many years," I replied, "and not at all, if you keep cutting it back hard, each year, as it regrows."

(When I say "if you keep cutting it back hard" I do, of course, mean "if you tell whoever cuts your hedges to do a proper job, and not to just skim the outside inch or two off".)

But no, she was not persuaded, and out came the hedge, and in went a fence.

 Oh dear.

Suddenly, a private corner of the garden was no longer private.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the moral of this tale, dear readers, is that it pays to push your way through a hedge before demolishing it, to see exactly what is on the other side, and how high their windows are....

 

Did you enjoy this article? Did you find it useful? Would you like me to answer your own, personal, gardening question? Become a Patron - just click here - and support me! Or use the Donate button for a one-off donation. If just 10% of my visitors gave me a pound a month, I'd be able to spend a lot more time answering all the questions!!