Some of you will be aware that we managed to kill a couple of yews in one of our hedges last winter. Well done us. If you need to know how, please see this post.
Desperately we fed the adjoining yews well and tied some of the branches on them across the depleted spaces.
But then at some point, given the problems involved in opening and keeping visitors safe and able to use a loo while the virus is lurking, we decided we wouldn’t open this year. So why not really make a mess???? Jeff suggested we might use the opportunity to cut the hedges back, something they are begining to need quite badly after 30 years. So here we are:
Strangely, I don’t find this looks too bad, but I do wonder if we’ve done it hard enough? The traditional method is to cut back to the bone, and here we have just cut back to where we’d like it to be. Maybe because we can’t bear doing more?
And we asked Jeff to have a go at the other side in a similar way, and the result this time was worse because it was already bad because of the death we had previously inflicted.
It’s hard to know whether if Jeff cut harder back the regrowth would be better. Last year, or maybe the year before, he cut the hedge back hard where it was closing up the entrance. And that was right back to the trunks. And the regrowth there has been great.
We looked carefully today to see where the regrowth was coming from and it was both the trunks and also some of the twiggy branches.
But there also seem to be quite a lot of apparently dead twiggy bits where we’ve just cut back this year. So will Jeff’s cut of the sides of the Pool Garden regrow all right? Or what????
And – are we now going to renovate all our hedges?!!!! Horrors!!!
We’d be grateful for any knowledgeable advice……..
No advice, expert or otherwise, only commiserations. What hard decisions you face! The thought of renovating all the hedges makes my head spin.
Yep, our heads spin too! xxx
Our two Irish yews were towering over us, not at all the delicate slim pillars we wanted. At the start of lockdown we cut them down to two bleak stumps. Nothing happened for ages, but now they are covered with fresh new growth ready for me to fail to control them again over the next 20 years.
Encouraging! Thanks. xxx
Oh blimey! How about renovating one area of hedging year, so that you have some lovey Ines to look at while the butchered in catches up. It seems a bit drastic to do them all at once given how much yew hedging you have. Such a scary thing to do or contemplate, even. But I’ve seen it done in the drastic way and within 2 years it’s back to glorious green. I imagine the National Trust have a lot of experience with this.
No – not doing the lot! And people tend to say a bit longer than 2 years. We’re dipping our toes in this water to see how it goes not cutting back so hard. And currently only in the one part of the garden… Fingers crossed!
What beautiful hedges, it must be a very difficult decision. Castle Bromwich Hall cut their ancient yew and holly hedges, which were healthy but completely out of hand, right back to the trunks, with good results. Might be worth asking their advice on this. I think they also fed the hedges after cutting back. I think doing it in stages is best, one side then the other. Good luck.
Yes, I think people tend to cut right back and one sided. I think we’ll give it a year (and food) to see what happens, since this just doesn’t look as grim as a cut so hard back. Experiment is my motto….! Xxx
I am a great believer in cutting back ‘dead’ plants and watering and feeding like billy-o. It’s magical when you see the bark breaking into re growth. Don’t despair yet.
Thanks!
In 2016 a very old yew hedge was cut back hard at our church in Connecticut. We thought it was ruined! It took four years of patience, but now is better than ever and the walkways are restored.
Thanks. That’s a happy outcome! I’m now wondering if not cutting quite to the bone works as well. Time will tell. If it does, it may need doing more often but may be less unsightly when we do it. Fingers crossed.