About different tools for different outcomes, heat waves, and how to add some silence into your gardening.
This past weekend in Grimsby, the catalpas have been in bloom. In the long series of spring flowers, trees may be the most majestic, and at the end of the spring season, after the lilacs, the horse chestnuts, and the maples have all bloomed, the catalpas are always a spectacular surprise.
It’s also been a few weeks of mixed weather. Last week we had lower temperatures alongside very heavy showers. This week we’re in a heat wave, some of the hottest temperatures of the year so far.
Because of that, this exploration of hedge trimming is a preemptive one. While the heat wave is ongoing, it’s a stressful time for both humans and plants, especially for gardeners who enjoy spending time outside. The actual hedge trimming can wait until the heat breaks.
The way I approach heat waves while gardening is twofold.
First, I take care of myself. I mostly work in the shade when possible, choose the cooler parts of the day, drink plenty of water, and pay attention to symptoms such as confusion, dizziness, or even just general lack of energy. It’s okay to work a little slower and be more intentional with the work you do if you absolutely have to be outside.
The other consideration is for the gardens. During a heat wave, it’s best to avoid things that stress plants, such as significant pruning or hedge trimming. Those can wait for cooler weather. I often prefer smaller tasks, such as weeding, especially in shaded areas. It’s a good time to step back and simply observe the garden.
Hot days call for stillness.
It’s also the time of year when many hedge shrubs have just flushed out their new growth. For some shrubs, such as the flowering shrubs discussed in the previous pruning post, all the blooms are finished and they’re ready for pruning. For others, such as boxwoods and yews, the new growth has flushed out and they’re approaching the right time for their seasonal trim.
Just like flowering shrubs, timing your cut is important.
Take the yew as an example. Their new growth is very obvious. The old growth is a lush dark forest green, while the new growth is a bright lime green. If you touch it, you’ll notice that the new growth is softer than the older needles, and if you look closely at the tips you may even find needles that are still developing.
If you trim your yew too early, it still has the energy to produce more growth, which often means another trim later in the season. If you wait until the lime green growth has fully flushed out and begins to darken, that usually indicates the shrub has finished growing for the year. One trim is often enough.
Other shrubs have similar signals. Boxwoods also produce lighter, softer new growth. Privets, which usually need more than one trim each season, simply begin looking scraggly. Since they bloom around this time, you can either trim them now and sacrifice some flowers, or enjoy the blooms first and give them a tighter trim afterwards. Sometimes I’ll trim only up to the blooms, then remove the final inch or two once flowering has finished.
Once you’ve decided that the timing is right, have a look at the weather.
If it’s been raining, it may be worth waiting until the foliage dries. Wet foliage can encourage rust on tools, and the cuts may not be quite as clean. If you’re coming out of a heat wave, giving your shrubs a deep watering the evening before trimming helps them recover from the stress and increases their resilience before a significant haircut.
When you’re trimming a hedge, like with any other gardening task, the tool shapes the outcome. Choosing the right tool is as important as the trimming itself.
The hedge trimmer
The most obvious tool for hedge trimming is, of course, the hedge trimmer.
The best hedge trimmer is the one you have.
Whether yours is battery powered, corded, or gas powered, take what you have and have a look at it. I personally use a medium-sized battery-powered hedge trimmer. I previously used a corded one and found the extension cord made the work slower and required constant attention to avoid cutting through it. I generally don’t use gas-powered tools, especially in residential gardens. A battery-powered hedge trimmer is more than sufficient, and I find hedge trimmers use surprisingly little battery compared to tools such as blowers.
Before starting, I like to oil the blades and briefly run the trimmer. If the blades move smoothly without squeaking or binding, the tool is ready. The smoother the tool, the cleaner the cut.
A hedge trimmer works exactly where you place it. Lay the blade flat against the surface you want to trim and move steadily along it.
If I’m trimming a rectangular yew hedge, I usually do the sides first and then the top. There’s no right or wrong order. I simply find that trimming the sides first gives me a clearer picture of the final height before I trim the top.
On the sides, you can work from the bottom up, from the top down, or even side to side. Each has a slightly different effect. Bottom to top gives a lighter skim and is less likely to snag branches. Top to bottom pushes against the natural direction of growth and reaches a little deeper into the hedge. Side to side often falls somewhere in between.
I often use all three during the same hedge. A light pass from the bottom up, another from the top down where needed, and finally a side-to-side pass to even everything out.
There’s no one right way. It’s all situation dependent.
When trimming the top, I place the blade at the final height I want and work from left to right or right to left. On larger hedges such as privets, the clippings quickly accumulate on top, so I often stop, clear them away, and make a second pass in the opposite direction. The branches move while you’re trimming, and a second pass usually catches the growth that escaped the first.
One small adjustment I’ve found useful is the angle of the blade. Keeping it perfectly flat gives you a good enough cut. If you angle the blade slightly, perhaps ten degrees, towards the direction you’re moving, the teeth of the hedge trimmer naturally pick up the new growth a little more easily, almost as if you’re combing the hedge. The important part is that your movement remains parallel to the hedge. The blade is angled slightly, but your path is still straight.
Hand shears
Even though hedge trimmers are the obvious choice, they’re far from the only one.
I often use hand shears. They’re lighter, quieter, and give me a different kind of control. I especially like them for smaller shrubs, such as individual dwarf Korean lilacs, boxwood balls, or cedar topiary.
When you’re using shears, every cut gathers only a small amount of growth. It takes a little longer to develop a smooth finish, but once you become comfortable with them they offer remarkable precision.
One advantage of shears is that changing the way you hold them changes the angle of the blades. Held one way they’re better suited to shorter shrubs. Turn them over and they become much easier to use on taller, rounded forms.
If you’re new to using shears, think of them as a very large pair of scissors.
When shaping a globe, I usually begin by creating a small flat area on the very top. That establishes the final height. From there, I follow one continuous curve from the top all the way to the bottom. I repeat the same curve on the opposite side, creating a band around the shrub. Then I repeat the process at ninety degrees to the first. Once those four curves are established, the remaining sections naturally fall into place.
If you have a small shrub, I highly recommend trying shears at least once.
For me, one of their biggest advantages is actually the silence. If I’m working in a quiet garden or on a quiet Sunday afternoon, there may be no reason to start the hedge trimmer. I can work with shears, listen to a podcast without noise-cancelling headphones, and still hear what’s going on around me.
It’s a good tool for silent gardening.
Hand pruners
Both hedge trimmers and shears are efficient tools. The trade-off is that they create a very small amount of damage as leaves are sliced through. On small-leaved shrubs such as yews and boxwoods, this is negligible, especially if your blades are sharp and clean. There is no better way to achieve a crisp, even surface.
Sometimes, however, preserving texture matters more than creating a perfectly flat finish.
This is where hand pruners come in.
Every cut with hand pruners is intentional.
If I’m reducing the size of a shrub, I’ll often identify one dominant branch and remove it back to its origin while leaving the surrounding branches untouched. In many cases, that reduces the size without needing to shorten every branch around it.
Hand pruners also let you place each cut exactly where you want future growth. Wherever you prune, most shrubs respond by producing denser growth below the cut. If I want a shrub to fill in a thin area, recover from winter damage, or simply grow in a particular direction, I’ll usually reach for my pruners.
That’s why I carry them with me even when I’m hedge trimming.
They’re useful for the stubborn branch that refuses to catch in the hedge trimmer, the small correction that improves the overall shape, or the stray tree seedling growing through the hedge that needs to be removed cleanly at its base.
When you’re trimming a hedge, like with any other gardening task, the tool shapes the outcome.
If you have a small rounded shrub where every branch matters, or perhaps one where you prefer a looser, wilder look, hand pruners may be what works best for you.
If you have a very large hedge that you want trimmed cleanly and neatly, a hedge trimmer is a great tool for large areas.
And if you’re somewhere in the middle, enjoying a quiet Sunday afternoon after the heat wave breaks, and you simply want to spend some time with your shrub without bringing out the hedge trimmer, a pair of shears rewards the time spent learning them with added flexibility.
The tool shapes the outcome.