We are out of town and I asked the landscaper to trim the size of this bush, as it has been growing too close to the house.
He just looped the top off and said it could hurt the tree and look bad if the width was made smaller.
I’m totally okay with it being bare until the spring.
I’m unsure if the bush/tree species, and would appreciate any helpful insight before just having the whole thing removed.
by toddlesaf
28 Comments
I have 0 experience with this stuff but looks fine to me. Imagine it won’t hurt if it’s not hitting the house
Do you have a picture of the backside? What type of bush is it?
Is he being honest? No. If he was honest he’d tell you that you’re being cheap and annoying lol.. is it off the house?? Ok then. Anymore than that you should put to your LANDSCAPERS discretion. They are compromising with you because that’s a silly request. This holly tree is mangled because of your silly requests and now it looks like the goofiest poor holly that I’ve ever seen. Take that out. Put in a new upright evergreen that will stay off the house and LEAVE IT ALONE. I mean for gods sake you don’t even know that it’s a holly and you’re questioning a professional smh. This is why we don’t want to work for a lot of people and stop showing up for people that give us silly requests we don’t want to do and then get QUESTIONED by them!!
Not a good time to be pruning Holly.
Wait until the buds are swelling next year, then again in July if needed.
Fertilize now with an inorganic granular
It’s definitely not pruning season.
Looks good to me. These things are hard to kill in my experience. Chopping off the top allows light and airflow into the plant. it’ll grow right back like nothing ever happened. The prune job looks good as well. If you’re upset about it always growing into the house you’ll be fighting that battle forever.
Leave the god damn bush alone lady
Guessing its a loral bush. They can be chopped way back they are aggressive. This does open them up for rot but they normally do just fine.Difficult to shape back because the branches are thick very time consuming.
Landscaper is not wrong, but definitely can be done if wanted/needed.
You can prune it like [this](https://imgur.com/a/dvSbICj) in the spring, or maybe over a couple of pruning cycles.
For a second I thought the lawn got carpeted with that brown 70s shag pile.
You have a nice bush. Leave it alone.
Forget what the expert suggested come to Reddit and get your answer.
Some prefer a trimmed bush and some don’t.
You may want to look into growth inhibitors so it doesn’t need to be pruned.
Long or short term, it would be better to hard prune right before or as it is starting to break dormancy
heavy pruning( leaving it bare) in the winter only leaves it susceptible to winter damage and could set it back unnecessarily
Ideally it should be scaled back by hand via decisive strategic cuts and not just shearing it until it longer appears evergreen
All said rethinking that corner with some more diversity and scale appropriate plants would probably be a better idea was more complimentary of the surrounding architectural features
Good luck and happy holidays!
I have said this in the past as a landscaper however you could give specific directions and he will follow is you hedge at the end of the day
The shape looks great to me if you’re going for the manicured shape look. Very symmetrical and pleasant lines. Doesn’t look to be taking over the house. You didn’t post a picture of how close it actually is to the house though, so kind of impossible to tell if it appears to be in danger of damaging the siding or not.
30+ years in the industry and always live by try not to cut more than 30% off at a time. And yes, a hard prune is better right before coming out of being dormant. That meaning 30% is the hard prune. Also I would be cautious in doing something that could cause damage to a plant with worry I would be held accountable for the damage. Of course I’m not saying you are the type of person that would do that…
Hack away. It’ll be fine.
Remove it. You can prune a plant to be smaller temporarily but it will continue to grow and get physically bigger. You’re gonna have to prune it constantly or extend the bed. Then you don’t have to prune it or pay for that service
Have the whole thing removed and start fresh with the right plant, in the right place, that is going to grow the way you want it to look with the fewest inputs from you. Either hire a pro and trust them, or choose to educate yourself. Local nurseries are a great resource for local plant knowledge.
Sorry you’re getting so much hate on the thread. If you really hate the bush, you should probably remove it and replace it with something smaller tbh. It looks like Chinese Holly, if you’re in America it wouldn’t actually hurt anything to remove it.
It doesn’t look bad though, and I doubt the root system or branches will damage anything on the house itself. Your landscaper is being honest with you, probably assumes you want it, but sounds like you don’t.
“Is my landscaper being honest?”
A few questions….
Why are you paying your hard-earned money to a guy you don’t even trust?
Why would you trust a room on the internet where _literally anyone_ could just pretend to be a landscaper, over the guy who shows up to your house with his tools?
I understand the need to seek a second option, but you could always just google it for yourself in small cases like “when should you trim a holly bush?”
It’s the wrong plant for that location, but you can cut it back as much as you want. It won’t kill it. I suggest early March so it doesn’t look bare for too long
Looks to be in scale with the architecture and hardscape.
As jibaro shared wrong time in z7- to be hard/rejuvenation pruning Ilex.
Curious as to why the stepping stones on perfectly manicured grass meant to feel good to walk on… lol
Yes, you can trim it back down in size. The drawback to that is the following years it won’t grow full-out coverage of the Leafs. But in the following years after it will be back to normal. A landscaper should know these small things about plants. It is not you who goes to cut the grass and cut a few limbs.
I’m not rich enough to know.