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6 votes
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How to tame a Pyracantha?

There's no easy answer I'm afraid - pyracantha hedges can be kept neat and tidy and shaped to whatever form you choose, but once they've overgrown, they're less easy to cut because of the thickness of ...
Bamboo's user avatar
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6 votes
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What is the optimal spacing for emerald green arborvitae?

Depends how quickly you want your privacy hedge to be dense - as you say, the predicted eventual spread is 3-4 feet, but at ten years, the spread is predicted at 24-30 inches per plant. If you don't ...
Bamboo's user avatar
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6 votes

How to help our tall cedar hedge grow thicker?

One common problem is trying to grow them with the sides completely vertical - they do better if the top is narrower than the bottom. If the top is wider than the bottom it will shade the bottom out. ...
Ecnerwal's user avatar
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6 votes
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Making a leylandii hedge more bushy and thick

It seems your trees (yes, Leyland cypresses are trees) were never properly trimmed, more likely planted once and then left alone. Which means they behaved like all trees planted closely together: ...
Stephie's user avatar
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6 votes
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What privacy hedge plants create little shade?

I would choose a climbing plant. Many of them can be pruned, to that you create some holes. I think it is better to have strong sun on few places (sun moves), then translucent leaves. Maybe some ...
Giacomo Catenazzi's user avatar
6 votes

What tool is most suitable for this task?

The least expensive tool to use that will also be effective are loppers and a ladder. That hedger is not meant for this level of hedging. Not even close. A ladder, sharp/bypass loppers with long ...
stormy's user avatar
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6 votes
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What tool is most suitable for this task?

To answer the part of your question... The lilly pilly is currently flowering. Is it a good time to trim it? No, do not prune while it is flowering. As a general “rule of thumb” for pruning ...
andrewbuilder's user avatar
5 votes
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When to trim ivy-full hedge to avoid bees and wasps?

The Ivy will be in flower, and is a valuable source of nectar for bees and wasps at this time of year. Activity on the part of those insects will be highest on sunny, warmer days, but just wait a ...
Bamboo's user avatar
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4 votes

What is the best privacy hedge for the US northeast?

Leyland Cypress is a popular privacy tree on the west coast, and will also grow well on the east coast from what I have heard. It can be planted as a dense hedge, and provides year round color. They ...
ench's user avatar
  • 240
4 votes

How do I get rid of wild grape vines?

If you are patient enough to do it, I think its worth going through with a pair of small hand pruners (Fishers makes a very small pair for indoor floral work) and cutting free the tendrils wrapped ...
Jeffrey Chase's user avatar
4 votes
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How much seasonal, internal die-off of Arborvitae is natural and expected?

I agree with Ecnerwal. Both white pines and cedars in the wild will drop needles or leaves in the fall. If you can find wild stands of these trees you will notice there is little else growing on the ...
kevinskio's user avatar
  • 58.3k
4 votes

Performance of a bamboo (Phyllostachys) hedge in South-West UK

Fargesia Robusta, one of the greatest bushing bamboo. This bamboo is able to withstand harsh weather. It will be safe between temperatures of 0 Degrees Fahrenheit - (17 degrees Celsius) and 90 ...
brandon's user avatar
  • 259
3 votes

How far apart should I plant Japanese box for a low hedge?

Rather depends what you mean by Japanese box hedge - as far as I'm concerned, it means varieties of Buxus microphylla (as opposed to Buxus sempervirens). Although the varieties differ a little in ...
Bamboo's user avatar
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3 votes
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How to remove a Pyracantha

Once a shrub gets this large, the method for removing and stopping regrowth is the same as that used with trees. You need to cut it right down and bore out the main roots with a stump grinder down to ...
Bamboo's user avatar
  • 132k
3 votes

How much seasonal, internal die-off of Arborvitae is natural and expected?

Internally shaded parts of pretty much all dense evergreens will die off due to lack of light, as the exterior parts grow and shade them out. When light levels reaching a leaf become too low for the ...
Ecnerwal's user avatar
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3 votes

Cutting height of Cedar Hedges

Yes, they will regrow. I have seen cedars be chopped down to less than half their original height. They do regrow but are powerfully ugly for a few years. Providing more water and fertilizer in the ...
kevinskio's user avatar
  • 58.3k
3 votes

How do I prevent basal shoots from bay laurel (Laurus nobilis)?

If you just cut down the unwanted plants and left the roots in situ, they will continue to try to grow all the time. The only way to stop that is to treat the stumps with stumpkiller, something like ...
Bamboo's user avatar
  • 132k
3 votes

How tall can Boxwood Green Velvet really grow?

The link you've given does indeed suggest a possible, very mature and eventual height of up to 6 feet. However, every other source on the net says 2-4 feet high and wide, so the odds are with the ...
Bamboo's user avatar
  • 132k
3 votes

Making a leylandii hedge more bushy and thick

Everything that Stephie said is fine. However, the trimming would most likely work for the right side of the hedge (right side of the last photo), but for the left hand side, it would be a difficult ...
VividD's user avatar
  • 5,810
3 votes

What is the right plant for obscuring a neighbour's second story window?

My answer to this is classic potted Bamboo. Its the perfect screen, grows tall with a cool contemporary, beautiful aesthetic. I am a native New Zealander born and bred with no Asian bias to bamboo. If ...
Mark Szaszy's user avatar
3 votes

What is the right plant for obscuring a neighbour's second story window?

To me, it sounds like a better place to grow a vine than either bamboo (which I personally find to be very messy) or a tree. As @bamboo has pointed out, assuming you really do mean mm and not cm that'...
Ben's user avatar
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3 votes

A hedge for my working place? (indoor)

A hedge might be difficult, but in a space that size, you could have 5 or 6 different potted plants, smaller ones stood in front of larger ones, to achieve the sunblocking effect you want and to ...
Bamboo's user avatar
  • 132k
3 votes

When are the best times to prune or trim leylandii?

The recommended time for cutting back mature leylandii hedges in the UK is two or three cuts between April and August, so its a little late now, though you could risk taking some off if you're ...
Bamboo's user avatar
  • 132k
3 votes

Less invasive alternatives to willow for living structures

Most species that are good for edges (so that they allow strong pruning) should work. Maybe try not to use species which produce too much wood. (Many) willows likes humid places, so there is a risk ...
Giacomo Catenazzi's user avatar
3 votes

Less invasive alternatives to willow for living structures

You are wrong in thinking that it rules out willows. I have to do root influence calculations regularly as part of my job (landscape architect). Firstly, willows and any other trees are unlikely to ...
George of all trades's user avatar
3 votes
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Xeriscape substitute for boxwood?

I had a ton of questions that I was going to put into a comment, but made the following assumptions: You have a formal landscape, possibly mulched with stone or river rock You want to plant something ...
Jurp's user avatar
  • 18.2k
3 votes

How can I trim my hedges evenly?

Cutting a long and large hedge evenly isn't an easy and quick task, especially only doing one cut a year, its quite time consuming to try to get it even and straight. You can use the string and pole ...
Bamboo's user avatar
  • 132k
3 votes
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Is there major drawbacks to plantings cedars in the fall?

I would not plant these until spring. When I worked in a southern Zone 4 nursery, we wouldn't even sell arbor vitae after September 30 unless pushed to do so by the customer - and then we wouldn't ...
Jurp's user avatar
  • 18.2k
3 votes

Which hedge plants can be used for animal preventive fencing?

If you are looking for some low fence against rabbits, planting Rosa rugosa close to each other might be helpful: Rosa rugosa (rugosa rose, beach rose, Japanese rose, Ramanas rose, or letchberry) is ...
B--rian's user avatar
  • 521

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