I have this hedgerow that grows up the side of the garage. It's shared with the neighbor – their part starts where it sticks out more by the bin. The problem is that I don't have green fingers so I don't know what I should do with it. Should I pay someone to tidy it up? Do they cut right back so I can grow some grass? Should I try to kill it off and dig it up? If so, what do I replace it with? I appreciate your thoughts.
by KingusUK
22 Comments
Chainsaw, it needs brutal.
Cottoneaster.
You could maybe give it a very light trim in early Spring and remove any deadwood you see. I don’t know how well they react to hard pruning.
I would ask myself how much time will I have to maintain what I replace it with?
As it currently is, I am guessing this takes little to no maintenance time. If you replace it with almost anything else, you are potentially looking at increasing your gardening activities. Is that what you want to do?
Can you post a picture which is more close-up, showing leaves and berries(?)
It looks a bit like a cotoneaster to me but I’m really not sure.
If so, you can trim with a hedge trimmer in quite heavily in late winter. Up to a third is the typical suggestion but it will probably cope with more if you want to really reshape it. It should then grow back in a more appealing manner.
Try it, see if you are happy with it. If not, then you can think about something different.
If it’s not a cotoneaster, to be frank many hedges can be treated the same way. But with a clear ID you can be sure.
leave it, don’t birds like it?
It just needs a tidy up, you don’t need green fingers just some gloves and garden loppers and hour or two and it would be back under control.
Why remove it and replace it with grass or something else.
You can trim this once or twice a year. Plus all the wildlife would love the berries and the home its providing them.
Grass would need more maintenance and any ither hedge you grow there will also need trimming.
Just neaten it up and jobs a gud’un
Frank Reynolds uses a magnum for his monster
I think it’s cotoneaster judging by the berries, it can be a bit of a bully if it’s not hacked back every now and again. Just lop it lightly back into shape, pull out as much of that straggly grass as you can and it’ll look a lot better. You’ll probably want loppers and a hedgecutter or sharp shears unless it’s got really big in which case a chainsaw or pruning saw. Most folk seem to recommend doing renovation pruning over a couple of years, so don’t go too mad in one go. Once it’s trimmed you can just go over it as and when, much less faff than grass and it keeps the peasants off your driveway. The birdies enjoy it as well so it’s much nicer for wildlife than some muddy grass that dogs pee all over.
[https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/cotoneaster](https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/cotoneaster)
Just trim it back. Get a cheap hedge trimmer.
Leave it . It looks great . Iv bought a cotoneaster in the hopes it does the same
It’s Cotoneaster and will come back fine after a hard pruning. Just prune it back to where you want it.
Technically that’s a shrub not a hedgerow
If it is Cotoneaster as many here have suggested, it’s also worth mentioning that it’s an invasive non-native species in the UK: https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/trees-and-shrubs/cotoneaster
I say that to inform, rather than because I think you should get rid of it. I definitely don’t think you should replace it with grass. Woody shrubs in an urban environment offer habitat/refuge for a variety of wildlife, and they store more carbon than grass too!
As others have suggested – I agree, keep it rather than remove it. Having more grass to maintain and keep tidy wouldn’t be a major benefit.
For now, you can tidy it up by removing any dead branches, and cut back the taller branches growing up the side of the garage (if you want to) and possibly give it a very light overall trim to give a neater shape for the coming months. Then in early Spring before it starts growing again (possibly mid to late February depending on where you live) you can prune up to around 1/3rd to reduce the size – and shape it to how you’d like it. You don’t really need ‘green fingers’, even if you make a mistake it will grow back strongly and quickly!
One option is having it completely removed, then prepare the ground for blue slate or white stones to sit on top of a ground sheet. From that moment on you have zero maintenence and somewhere to put the bins. Or just a nice tidy property line.
Or you trim it regularly.
Get a hedgetrimmer and prune it, Google when the best time of year for it is. There is an app called “picture this” that will tell you what plant it is.
I guarantee that giving it a trim once a year is less effort than maintaining a lawn.
Nobody starts off with green fingers either. I’d say I’m good at gardening and all I’ve ever done is use that app and then the rhs website for advice on what to do with the plant
Is that Japanese Knot Hedge of Heaven?
Is that Japanese Knot Hedge of Heaven?
Think of all the wildlife that might have homes in there. I’d leave it.
I bet there’s all kinds of wildlife living there, I’d leave it
You can give cotoneaster a deep trim. It’s a source of food and shelter for wildlife; bees feed on the flowers, birds build nests and hide inside it, and eat the berries, hedgehogs hide in it as well. Shame if you removed it. Good trim twice a year is less work than replacing with grass that needs a biweekly mow.