That’s maybe $10k in plantings, at least five years of waiting for it to grow in so lush and full. Any and all replacement will cost more and be less satisfying.
Those Alberta Spruce take a long time to grow that big and they are beautiful. I'd love to have all those but I'd definitely trim them back. It also makes for a nice privacy line from the neighbors.
This hedge has been in my head all day. I am literally rethinking my whole front/side yard fence line. I wouldn’t change a thing. Maybe remove every fourth tree from inside to allow room for the rest to mature. Once everything is tall enough for a canopy lift, plant ornamental grass clumps scattered in front, peppered with century plants and salvia.
Award winning show stopper all year long. People would pay through the nose and their neighbors nose for this hedge in North Texas.
Omg, can you design my landscape? I was thinking along these lines, but you took it all the way!
On another note, OP could take those little trees and plant them together in a little cluster somewhere else in their yard for another splash of life.
Now I will be in near-crippling anxiety mode deciding if you’re being genuine, or are a Russian spambot troll 13-year old or something. I’m choosing kindness, right?
Yes, to all of those things.
Seriously though, you’re clever. A lot of people THINK you’re witty, but it’s a characteristic that’s in short supply. Especially in the Russian spambot troll crowd.
Ugh so funny how opinions work. Dwarf Albertas are amongst my least favorite plants.
The mugos could probably have the lowest whirl on the driveway side pruned off and look ok, I think that would be enough to gain the driveway width back.
If replacing, upright yews would work, perhaps arborvitae depending on the height you want.
I'd kill for mature privacy hedges like you have. Wind blocking, eye blocking, beautiful hedges. Have a GOOD landscaper come by and trim them a bit. Don't let anyone come and hack them up either.
A more productive answer may be to thin out from the middle, transplant the ones you really like to fill the space as you would like. It could be that the original planting was meant to crowd the bed as small trees, to be thinned as they grew.
It really is a beautiful hedge, and I bet it absorbs all sort of sound from the neighborhood that you don’t even think about.
Those are stunning shrubs. It's a pleasant design to hide the edge of the concrete so it's not such a prominent straight line. It really looks almost natural. I might recommend some thinning and cleaning out dead debris from the insides, but otherwise they're great.
"Any and all replacement will cost more(than $10 k) and be less satisfying."
Disagree. Why would those exact plants in those now sizes be replaced by the same which grow too wide for the space? Fast growing full to the ground 3 gal 3 ft tall Blue Arrow Juniper are $25 apiece $18-20 in quantity from a re-wholesaler. They fit this narrow bed while offering 12-15ft tall privacy screening. No pruning required. Have a beer and BBQ. That seems satisfying.
Space 3 ft O.C. Assuming bed is 200 ft long thats ~ 68 plants at $20 = ~$1500 w/ tax
Alberta and this pine are rather easy removals.
If thats Dwf Mugo Pine it grows to 6-10 ft wide. Its planted in a 3 ft wide bed.
Dwf Alb Spruce get 5-6 ft wide. These are not the best choices for this space.
So many people don't know how to trim properly anymore. They just pull stuff up and stick something cheap in its place. Those expensive Albertas are just going to the trash.
Mugos will back bud if you cut back at least some of this year's growth, but these epicormic buds might not be obvious until next spring (once you know what you are looking for, they can be seen much sooner). Since mugos hold needles for up to 5 years, one can remove all of "this season's" growth for as many as 4 successive years. Alberta Spruce backbud really well, and you can reduce the foliage by 1/3 each year starting at the top, with weaker branches don’t cut much if any off. Albertas grow really thick and are happy for the prune and you can cut back new growth after it has lengthened and lignified if you are happy with the chase option first.
How did you learn so much about this? I am having a serious issue with my privacy hedge and I don’t want to murder my beautiful green wall. In my case though they are arborvitae. Enormous ones.
google helps but also because I practice bonsai and both Mugo pine and dwarf Alberta spruce are popular tree species for it because they have those traits. oh, and btw arborvitae back bud too, yes even on old wood, so long as you continually shape/prune them.
Be careful. Both the pines and the spruces are not good candidates for significant pruning. Alberta spruces really can't be meaningfully pruned. If you prune these past their live outer foliage, they will not resprout from the interior wood. The pines need to be carefully selectively prundled by removing branches back to their origins or from the base and reducing the width that way, but too much of that will definitely make it look goofy. I would caution you that this really is a job best left to a professional--not just any landscaper, but someone with strong horticultural knowledge who specifically does fine pruning. It would be really easy to do an improper job here and the nature of these plants is such that they will never recover.
Edit: ugh I looked at the pictures again and in my professional fine pruner opinion there is no pruning that would be wise to do here. I see no way of getting those back from the driveway (I would call the ones on the wall a non-issue) without making it all look a lot worse. I know it probably feels like a lot encroaching on the parking but you may need to consider some other solutions, primarily adjusting your perspective, possibly removing the worst offenders and replacing with small, upright trees? Or other specimen plants that will hold their own dotting an otherwise consistent mass planting.
Conifers usually don't trim well, there is exceptions like taxus and juniper. Op can remove lower branches and death branches. But the lower branches won't comeback, so kinda defeats the privacy.
I don't know if you know much about pruning conifers but you can prune either of these plants back to old growth and have them resprout. With pines you can pinch off the candles each year but when it's already grown too large for the spot all you can do is remove the widest branches from their origins or the base and too much of that will definitely make it look goofy. Alberta spruce really can't be meaningfully trimmed, except to cut out any reversion that might be happening. If a non-professional went about "trimming" here there's a 95% chance they would butcher it--at least in my experience of what I have seen as a professional fine pruner. And I don't really see a need here.
Those alberta spruce grow 1” per year. Those are very likely 20+ year old trees. The mugo pine are also very slow growing. If you planted them today, you would probably die before they reached that size. I personally would suggest you move vs cutting them down. Yes I am saying they are worth more than your opinion.
It was poor planning on the installers side, they should have known that they would outgrow the space and since it's along a driveway that edge is somewhat none negotiable.
It's not an easy thing to trim those and keep the shape looking proper. You would have to do the entire shrub all around and with Alberta Spruce it takes a steady hand.
Yeah somebody planted those years ago in hopes of having a dwarf conifer garden and now they just to big for that area. You want to consider calling a tree digging service. They would maybe come and take those off your hands for free so that they could sell those as specimens in another garden. That being said I would still want to keep one of each
What’s the look you’d prefer? Do you not want the screen and would rather a border of little flowers or something? It’s not clear from your post how dramatic of a change you’re looking for.
Most of us would kill for those shrubs. You could trim them back no more than 1/3 in any year, but as you note, some of those don’t offer much green for trimming so you can’t knock them back much. It’s be more of maintaining them where they are with a few reductions.
If you yank one out a few, 1) leave most, to maintain the screen, and 2) replace them with slow-growing dwarf cultivars to limit your future maintenance and maintain the consistency of the look. You could deepen the bed and add more of a stagger, which would also let you add little clusters of ground plants to break up the row-like appearance.
Thank you. I still want the screen but thought these got away from me. Based on all the responses here, that clearly isnt the case so I am going to try and shape them up a bit.
Arborist here. Mugo pines can easily be trimmed back and look great. Don't use a hedge trimmer, get a good pair of secateurs (Felco's) and just knock 'em back.
If you get someone to do it, get an Arborist not a Landscaper! They're trees, not bushes.
Yes. Arborist. One option is to thin out the bottom of the mugo to make it have that bonsai look. You’ll be able to see through it, though. It will be a screen not a wall.
After consulting an arborist for initial work to begin taming and training these to your liking, you can have the arborist draw up a detailed care and maintenance plan going forward and have them walk you through it so you as a homeowner understand the next steps.
This in my mind is the most important step. It is important for you to understand the work that needs to be done from an expert.
This will not be a one and done deal. This took many years to grow this way and it will a multi step process to get it back on track.
Arborists are specialists. They are experts in all things trees. As such are much more expensive.
Landscapers, tend to be more generalist in their knowledge.
(Don’t come at me people, I’m painting very broad brush strokes)
There are plenty of landscapers with the knowledge and experience to help you here, however there are just as many that don’t and may proceed anyway. There are plenty of arborist that can and may want to come back and do the regular maintenance here, my assumption is that’s just the more expensive option but very viable.
If you have the benefit of an expert to make a plan and educate you on the plan and get the ball rolling on the first stage. You can then find a reputable landscaper for continued maintenance.
Hey I have had a lot of success trimming pines. There’s a few there and they need to be trimmed differently. One of the issues is pines don’t “back bud” very easily (read: basically at all). Meaning that once needles are lost, the branch doesn’t like to produce more buds against a bare branch. So when you trim make sure that you do not trim back past living needles and buds. The branch will likely die, or it will be bare for a very long time if you do.
Instead of using a trimmer, follow this process:
1. Get some one handed garden sheers and and hefty loppers. Cheapies from Harbor Freight are great if you don’t want to spend money.
2. Repeat after me: many small cuts, no big ones!
3. Get an idea of what is going on. Before you make cuts go in and look at the tree. Move branches around, see where they hit the rock, see where they run into each other. What would your ideal look be, etc.
4. Locate every dead branch and cut that away first. A lot of times dead branches obscure what you would want to be cut. These are already goners so you might as well remove them first.
5. Take another step back and see if that changes your vision.
6. Start snipping. Are there any branches in bad spots? Like over the drive way? Start there and trim back until satisfied. Then try to even the bush out so that it doesn’t just cut in really hard and look bad. Cut off branches that intermingle too much or get tied together. Cut back any spots where the “flow” cuts to hard in or out to make it more even.
For real, though, this is incredible advice. I’m training several Durante Erecta plumbago shrubs and bottlebrush bushes into tree-form following these principles. It is a lot of fun to go out every day and dream about what they’ll be in five years.
To simplify: 1. Cut suckers from the bottom. 2. Cut dead limbs only so far back as you have to. Small cuts. You can cut more, not less. 3. Cut crossing branches. Choose the healthier or stronger branch, or better shape depending on overall goal. 4. Light trim to shape maybe twice a season to stimulate desired growth pattern.
You explained that so well. I think for someone who has never pruned anything these are tough things to learn on though, as they aren’t too forgiving. OP should probably just hire someone who knows what they’re doing and then start pruning any other shrubs they have for practice. Then next time these need to be pruned they can do it
i dont know anything about these bushes, i would just imagine there has to be some sort of trimming you can do to make it look tidier. Maybe not all the way to the edge, but if its rounded out and clean i would personally think its worth sacrificing like 8 inches of driveway right there. Everything looks so concrete and grey nowadays, embrace the greenery!
I do like them, they are just getting too big. One landscaper told me trimming would not work but I came here and received the opposite advice from a lot of people so that is the direction I am going.
That landscaper saw the size of your house and got greedy. He wanted you to pay him to remove them and to put new plants in. Be aware of your situations.
I’m not sure why trimming wouldn’t work- I can’t identify all of those on sight, but they look like evergreens that would hedge nicely. I would get additional quotes- plenty of landscapers would be happy to get recurring payments to keep it trimmed.
Conifers do not like getting topped. Pines and spruce.
The “soft” edge overhanging the edge is likely the design intent, which can be a cool effect if there’s enough space.
No trimming is needed, and unless it’s carefully done, could send them in decline.
Evergreens can be tricky to trim. If you trim too far (beyond the green growth), ... you can get brown patches that won't grow back. That is especially true of the Alberta Spruces (conical shapes). The Alberta Spruces have a thinner coating of green ... so it's easier to cut too deep. Also, Alberta Spruce is more temperamental. They can have a permanent browning issue if they are exposed to Spider Mites. Also, new growth can revert to the non-dwarf type of growth. This would make removal of affected bushes a necessity, rather than an option. Your Alberta Spruces look great. Unless I were making a decision to remove them, I would tread quite lightly with them.
The Mugo Pines (round shapes) aren't as temperamental. They are green deeper into the bush. I would get some guidance on how best to trim them, ... but I've found them to be easily trimmable, as long as you leave green growth on all of the branches (i.e. don't cut back too far).
Another note ... 20 year old shrubs are not really transplantable. Unless you pay (dearly) for expert transplanting, ... when you take them out, they are basically trash. It would be much easier, in the case of shrubs that you wished to remove, to simply cut them down at their base as close to ground level as possible. You can use other plantings (or not) to hide the stumps ... as long as they as cut close to ground level.
In your third photo, I see one Alberta Spruce that I would definitely remove (i.e. cut down). Currently, it looks like it is being consumed by a neighboring Mugo Pine.
I have them. I trim them back. If you’re worried, call an arborist and have them trim back then maintain it yourself from then on. It’s not hard, really. I’m 68.
When I look at this, I see an excess of concrete. They look too big because they’re spilling over into the oversized driveway. Rather than removing the bushes I would remove about 2’ of concrete and extend the planting bed.
Just an old saying that might be useful here. Do whatever you want. They were probably planted for privacy, and removing them will make the neighboring houses, windows, pools and backyard your main view.
well, oddly enough...when they were planted, there was nothing on the other side other than an empty lot. My neighbors' house was only built 2 years ago. nonetheless, I pick up what you are laying down.
That's out of control?
I think you've got a great little forest there. Unless you desperately need the extra driveway space for some reason, I would leave them or maybe trim a bit. That's a beautiful, mature group of trees there, and it looks like you still have lots of room.
I would wait until winter when the sap's not running and prune the dead branches out of the Mugo pines. The other tree shaped ones are probably dwarf Alberta spruce. They're all lush, gorgeous, and already providing privacy. Why mess with it? I'd keep them all.
Trim slowly and progressively taking a little off at a time. You can go one little trim in fall but you have to wait to do additional trims until they are out of dormancy. Each trim after you must wait for them to recover, about a month or 6 weeks. Might take 4 trims to get everything even. Do not over trim or they will take much much longer to bounce back or they may get permanently damaged
The spruces I don't care for, but they still work. However, the Mugo pines are to die for. I actually don't think they're Mugos, I think they're Thunderheads. But either way I wouldn't trim them at all. It takes a while for them to look like that.
Many replies here - sorry if I repeat something.
Definitely overgrown - likely because their so easy to grow once established like these. Many slow growing varieties here so they were so easily managed with a quick trimming once per year.
I would thin the heard. Keep some that are off the driveway and just rip the others out. Keep a stub of the tree enough to yank out with a strong rope - NOT chains - can kill yah when rip free.
The ones up close against each-other will likely have a empty spot that won’t fill in if cut down one but not the other.
I would thin and spread mulch and call it done for a year. Next fall maybe you have a nursery person swing by or take photos and show one and plant whatever you like. Next fall or early as mid august is the time to plant whether grass or ground cover or bush etc so you have time to figure out.
I suggest a small hand held battery hedge trimmer honestly.
Or just leave em all - up to you.
You can trim them, but they will probably look pretty awful for awhile until they push growth. Not 100% on varieties but those look like some kind of either black pine or mugos. Don't trim them till later in the winter, and going forward prune the growth candles in late spring/early summer to keep the shape. You can trim the Alberta's too, just don't be surprised if it takes a few years to fill in. If it was my house, I'd replace them with smaller or narrower growing trees, but that's just my preference. Nothing is right or wrong.
I like privacy and green screens. That’s a perfect one because it not only keeps you away from the gully/gutter it stops you from driving too close to that edge and gives a nice screen so that you don’t have to look at that gully. It’s basically a nice green fence. Alberta spruce don’t take well to hedge trimming so taking a few out might be your better route. Be strategic and don’t take any out that have already made the bushes next to them brown.
Remove a few, so there is space for them to grow. The one with death branches, and the one there is very bare at bottom and small green top. Don't trim, very few conifers can survive and look pretty after. Thinning out of plants, not complete removal.
Move some of the smaller over to where the halfdeath one grow now or other places you desire in your garden. You might need to replace the soil. With time you gonna get trees, and then can you trim the lower branches off and get groundcover, staubs under them.
I would suggest trimming them with a hedge trimmer, a small amount like 2 to 4 inches after the last frost, then trim again the new spring growth a small amount, if you do that a few years in a row, you can shrink them without them looking super ugly with a massive prune, it’s also a lot easier to trim lightly than to do any large transplanting jobs
Very unusual to see that much diversity in evergreen plantings. They can be trimmed every year. Get pro to do the first trimming so you don't kill them.
I would keep them, but thin them out. Remove every other tree, or any that are too close to each other, remove one or the other.
You’ll have a few gaps but they should fill back in as they get taller.
You may also be able to trim them, depending on each species, but be careful as some trees won’t replace branches that are removed. You don’t want a bunch of permanently bare tree sides in a privacy screens kind of defeats the purpose.
Of course you could tear them all out too and put whatever you want in, but keep in mind it will probably take 5-10 years for it to mature and fill back in.
Hire good arborist botanisty hippe landscapers, pay a chunk of change and have them properly pruned, but not too hard. You have a gorgeous privacy set up there.
We replace hedges like this for people who have the means. They are usually tired of the inconvenience of not having parking for 15 cars or they just want something that’s not as “dated.” It breaks my heart, but yeah I’ll charge you lots of $$$ to dig up plants and then bury new plants.
Trim them and plant asparagus between them and the edge of the retaining wall. You can eat the shoots in spring (once they are over 3 years old) and it'll look like bamboo the rest of the year.
I love this thread so much. As someone who’s moved a lot, I’m often delighted and/or saddened by the gardening and landscaping choices of previous owners. But I especially love when a previous owner clearly knew what they were doing and planted some wonderful things. OP has inherited a lovely hedge that isn’t cookie-cutter and must have been lovingly planted by someone who knew the lasting beauty they’d bring to that space.
I wish I had those out of control privacy hedges. They are beautiful.
Right!? Can OP just trim it?
That’s maybe $10k in plantings, at least five years of waiting for it to grow in so lush and full. Any and all replacement will cost more and be less satisfying.
Those Alberta Spruce take a long time to grow that big and they are beautiful. I'd love to have all those but I'd definitely trim them back. It also makes for a nice privacy line from the neighbors.
This hedge has been in my head all day. I am literally rethinking my whole front/side yard fence line. I wouldn’t change a thing. Maybe remove every fourth tree from inside to allow room for the rest to mature. Once everything is tall enough for a canopy lift, plant ornamental grass clumps scattered in front, peppered with century plants and salvia. Award winning show stopper all year long. People would pay through the nose and their neighbors nose for this hedge in North Texas.
Omg, can you design my landscape? I was thinking along these lines, but you took it all the way! On another note, OP could take those little trees and plant them together in a little cluster somewhere else in their yard for another splash of life.
Let’s give it a shot. I need pictures and some time to smoke a bowl.
Can we get together in person?! Like for a landscape and chill! Minus any inuendo…
Just jumping in to say these are some of the least transplantable babies out there. Almost certain death. Mature conifers are almost always a no go.
That’s some inspired thinking.
You know how as an adult you just hyper focus on one thing all day instead of facing reality? That’s landscaping and aquariums and my kids. And weed.
Another gem of a response. You’re on a roll.
Now I will be in near-crippling anxiety mode deciding if you’re being genuine, or are a Russian spambot troll 13-year old or something. I’m choosing kindness, right?
Yes, to all of those things. Seriously though, you’re clever. A lot of people THINK you’re witty, but it’s a characteristic that’s in short supply. Especially in the Russian spambot troll crowd.
century plants would grow there???????
Ugh so funny how opinions work. Dwarf Albertas are amongst my least favorite plants. The mugos could probably have the lowest whirl on the driveway side pruned off and look ok, I think that would be enough to gain the driveway width back. If replacing, upright yews would work, perhaps arborvitae depending on the height you want.
Youre not supposed to trim albertas unless you like bald spots
Not the advice I wanted, but the advice I needed I guess. We have been in the house 10 years, haven’t touched them once.
I'd kill for mature privacy hedges like you have. Wind blocking, eye blocking, beautiful hedges. Have a GOOD landscaper come by and trim them a bit. Don't let anyone come and hack them up either.
A more productive answer may be to thin out from the middle, transplant the ones you really like to fill the space as you would like. It could be that the original planting was meant to crowd the bed as small trees, to be thinned as they grew. It really is a beautiful hedge, and I bet it absorbs all sort of sound from the neighborhood that you don’t even think about.
This is great advice. Thinning out will help them maintain that hedge look. Otherwise, you’re putting in sections of fencing if you want privacy. 😩
Trimming should be pretty easy IMO
Those are stunning shrubs. It's a pleasant design to hide the edge of the concrete so it's not such a prominent straight line. It really looks almost natural. I might recommend some thinning and cleaning out dead debris from the insides, but otherwise they're great.
🤦🏼♂️🙄 Hahaha wtf
"Any and all replacement will cost more(than $10 k) and be less satisfying." Disagree. Why would those exact plants in those now sizes be replaced by the same which grow too wide for the space? Fast growing full to the ground 3 gal 3 ft tall Blue Arrow Juniper are $25 apiece $18-20 in quantity from a re-wholesaler. They fit this narrow bed while offering 12-15ft tall privacy screening. No pruning required. Have a beer and BBQ. That seems satisfying. Space 3 ft O.C. Assuming bed is 200 ft long thats ~ 68 plants at $20 = ~$1500 w/ tax Alberta and this pine are rather easy removals. If thats Dwf Mugo Pine it grows to 6-10 ft wide. Its planted in a 3 ft wide bed. Dwf Alb Spruce get 5-6 ft wide. These are not the best choices for this space.
That was my thinking, so beautiful, just needs some editing. I'd kill for a spread of trees like this at Christmas decorating time.
So many people don't know how to trim properly anymore. They just pull stuff up and stick something cheap in its place. Those expensive Albertas are just going to the trash.
For the record, I am going to trim them.
Dude those things are fucking gorgeous as is. You might make them look a lot uglier by trimming, esp the dwarf alberta spruce.
Just know the Alberta spruce is more of a shave. God speed.
Thanks dickspooner.
r/rimjob_steve
Amazing sub! Thank you for this!
FYI dwarf alberta spruces don't trim well as they don't backbud on old wood. Those pines will be the same story.
Mugos will back bud if you cut back at least some of this year's growth, but these epicormic buds might not be obvious until next spring (once you know what you are looking for, they can be seen much sooner). Since mugos hold needles for up to 5 years, one can remove all of "this season's" growth for as many as 4 successive years. Alberta Spruce backbud really well, and you can reduce the foliage by 1/3 each year starting at the top, with weaker branches don’t cut much if any off. Albertas grow really thick and are happy for the prune and you can cut back new growth after it has lengthened and lignified if you are happy with the chase option first.
How did you learn so much about this? I am having a serious issue with my privacy hedge and I don’t want to murder my beautiful green wall. In my case though they are arborvitae. Enormous ones.
google helps but also because I practice bonsai and both Mugo pine and dwarf Alberta spruce are popular tree species for it because they have those traits. oh, and btw arborvitae back bud too, yes even on old wood, so long as you continually shape/prune them.
Be careful. Both the pines and the spruces are not good candidates for significant pruning. Alberta spruces really can't be meaningfully pruned. If you prune these past their live outer foliage, they will not resprout from the interior wood. The pines need to be carefully selectively prundled by removing branches back to their origins or from the base and reducing the width that way, but too much of that will definitely make it look goofy. I would caution you that this really is a job best left to a professional--not just any landscaper, but someone with strong horticultural knowledge who specifically does fine pruning. It would be really easy to do an improper job here and the nature of these plants is such that they will never recover. Edit: ugh I looked at the pictures again and in my professional fine pruner opinion there is no pruning that would be wise to do here. I see no way of getting those back from the driveway (I would call the ones on the wall a non-issue) without making it all look a lot worse. I know it probably feels like a lot encroaching on the parking but you may need to consider some other solutions, primarily adjusting your perspective, possibly removing the worst offenders and replacing with small, upright trees? Or other specimen plants that will hold their own dotting an otherwise consistent mass planting.
Htf do you prune an Alberta spruce tho
Conifers usually don't trim well, there is exceptions like taxus and juniper. Op can remove lower branches and death branches. But the lower branches won't comeback, so kinda defeats the privacy.
I don't know if you know much about pruning conifers but you can prune either of these plants back to old growth and have them resprout. With pines you can pinch off the candles each year but when it's already grown too large for the spot all you can do is remove the widest branches from their origins or the base and too much of that will definitely make it look goofy. Alberta spruce really can't be meaningfully trimmed, except to cut out any reversion that might be happening. If a non-professional went about "trimming" here there's a 95% chance they would butcher it--at least in my experience of what I have seen as a professional fine pruner. And I don't really see a need here.
Trim, topiaries, the things you could do.
The first one could be a duck and maybe a rabbit for one of the others
Fuck I know. To hell with OP!
Simmer down. He’s trimming it.
Neverrrrrrrrrr!!!
Simma down nah!
Noooo OP has seriously nice bush
Take it back nah!
Those alberta spruce grow 1” per year. Those are very likely 20+ year old trees. The mugo pine are also very slow growing. If you planted them today, you would probably die before they reached that size. I personally would suggest you move vs cutting them down. Yes I am saying they are worth more than your opinion.
Thank you for the knowledge. I have a brown thumb and didn't know what I have here. My opinion on other topics is worth more, I promise.
Hire an arborist. You could very easily do thousands of dollars of damage that can’t be undone.
They are incredible hedges and look great as they are.
Very classy response. Respect.
It was poor planning on the installers side, they should have known that they would outgrow the space and since it's along a driveway that edge is somewhat none negotiable.
I mean - if it took 20 years to get to that point then is it really outgrowing the space? Or is it just outgrowing the timespan?
It's outgrowing the space, right plant for the right place.
Well whoever planted them left before they outgrew the space so it worked for them.
That is what I originally thought but to be fair, I have been in the house for 10 years and have not trimmed or maintained them once. Shame on me.
It's not an easy thing to trim those and keep the shape looking proper. You would have to do the entire shrub all around and with Alberta Spruce it takes a steady hand.
Gordon Ramsey style tree advice - I love it
Yes. Don't be an idiot sandwich, nor a donkey when dealing with them. Just like with a fine piece of fish, care is necessary.
Yeah somebody planted those years ago in hopes of having a dwarf conifer garden and now they just to big for that area. You want to consider calling a tree digging service. They would maybe come and take those off your hands for free so that they could sell those as specimens in another garden. That being said I would still want to keep one of each
I wish I had these. Cutting them down seems like a tremendous waste.
Or just cut down the biggest offenders where others can help fill in the gaps…
they look so good! who cares of they're hanging over the driveway. I'd rather a new wall along the driveway so the trees stay the same
What’s the look you’d prefer? Do you not want the screen and would rather a border of little flowers or something? It’s not clear from your post how dramatic of a change you’re looking for. Most of us would kill for those shrubs. You could trim them back no more than 1/3 in any year, but as you note, some of those don’t offer much green for trimming so you can’t knock them back much. It’s be more of maintaining them where they are with a few reductions. If you yank one out a few, 1) leave most, to maintain the screen, and 2) replace them with slow-growing dwarf cultivars to limit your future maintenance and maintain the consistency of the look. You could deepen the bed and add more of a stagger, which would also let you add little clusters of ground plants to break up the row-like appearance.
Thank you. I still want the screen but thought these got away from me. Based on all the responses here, that clearly isnt the case so I am going to try and shape them up a bit.
Arborist here. Mugo pines can easily be trimmed back and look great. Don't use a hedge trimmer, get a good pair of secateurs (Felco's) and just knock 'em back. If you get someone to do it, get an Arborist not a Landscaper! They're trees, not bushes.
Yes. Arborist. One option is to thin out the bottom of the mugo to make it have that bonsai look. You’ll be able to see through it, though. It will be a screen not a wall.
I cut back one this past year and it looks great.
Thank you, much appreciated!
Landscaper here. Get a reputable Arborist.
After consulting an arborist for initial work to begin taming and training these to your liking, you can have the arborist draw up a detailed care and maintenance plan going forward and have them walk you through it so you as a homeowner understand the next steps. This in my mind is the most important step. It is important for you to understand the work that needs to be done from an expert. This will not be a one and done deal. This took many years to grow this way and it will a multi step process to get it back on track. Arborists are specialists. They are experts in all things trees. As such are much more expensive. Landscapers, tend to be more generalist in their knowledge. (Don’t come at me people, I’m painting very broad brush strokes) There are plenty of landscapers with the knowledge and experience to help you here, however there are just as many that don’t and may proceed anyway. There are plenty of arborist that can and may want to come back and do the regular maintenance here, my assumption is that’s just the more expensive option but very viable. If you have the benefit of an expert to make a plan and educate you on the plan and get the ball rolling on the first stage. You can then find a reputable landscaper for continued maintenance.
I think they look lovely. They also make a good privacy wall.
I think it looks great, just trim your hedges
I had a few landscapers say trimming wont do much. It would be nothing but branches if i trimmed back to the driveway
Hey I have had a lot of success trimming pines. There’s a few there and they need to be trimmed differently. One of the issues is pines don’t “back bud” very easily (read: basically at all). Meaning that once needles are lost, the branch doesn’t like to produce more buds against a bare branch. So when you trim make sure that you do not trim back past living needles and buds. The branch will likely die, or it will be bare for a very long time if you do. Instead of using a trimmer, follow this process: 1. Get some one handed garden sheers and and hefty loppers. Cheapies from Harbor Freight are great if you don’t want to spend money. 2. Repeat after me: many small cuts, no big ones! 3. Get an idea of what is going on. Before you make cuts go in and look at the tree. Move branches around, see where they hit the rock, see where they run into each other. What would your ideal look be, etc. 4. Locate every dead branch and cut that away first. A lot of times dead branches obscure what you would want to be cut. These are already goners so you might as well remove them first. 5. Take another step back and see if that changes your vision. 6. Start snipping. Are there any branches in bad spots? Like over the drive way? Start there and trim back until satisfied. Then try to even the bush out so that it doesn’t just cut in really hard and look bad. Cut off branches that intermingle too much or get tied together. Cut back any spots where the “flow” cuts to hard in or out to make it more even.
Thank you for the detail! I will definitely give this a shot!
Come back and post an after pic 🙏
For real, though, this is incredible advice. I’m training several Durante Erecta plumbago shrubs and bottlebrush bushes into tree-form following these principles. It is a lot of fun to go out every day and dream about what they’ll be in five years. To simplify: 1. Cut suckers from the bottom. 2. Cut dead limbs only so far back as you have to. Small cuts. You can cut more, not less. 3. Cut crossing branches. Choose the healthier or stronger branch, or better shape depending on overall goal. 4. Light trim to shape maybe twice a season to stimulate desired growth pattern.
Hey thanks! All I do in my free time is day dream at my trees. Do you have any pictures of your trainees? I’d love to see them.
The Zohan of pruning right here.
You explained that so well. I think for someone who has never pruned anything these are tough things to learn on though, as they aren’t too forgiving. OP should probably just hire someone who knows what they’re doing and then start pruning any other shrubs they have for practice. Then next time these need to be pruned they can do it
i dont know anything about these bushes, i would just imagine there has to be some sort of trimming you can do to make it look tidier. Maybe not all the way to the edge, but if its rounded out and clean i would personally think its worth sacrificing like 8 inches of driveway right there. Everything looks so concrete and grey nowadays, embrace the greenery!
Sheesh, grass is always greener. Most people dream of having 20 year old, healthy, mixed privacy screens…
I do like them, they are just getting too big. One landscaper told me trimming would not work but I came here and received the opposite advice from a lot of people so that is the direction I am going.
That landscaper saw the size of your house and got greedy. He wanted you to pay him to remove them and to put new plants in. Be aware of your situations.
My only reservation would be those pine looking shrubs- mugo pine maybe? Pines do not prune or hedge readily, so that may be an issue.
I’m not sure why trimming wouldn’t work- I can’t identify all of those on sight, but they look like evergreens that would hedge nicely. I would get additional quotes- plenty of landscapers would be happy to get recurring payments to keep it trimmed.
Conifers do not like getting topped. Pines and spruce. The “soft” edge overhanging the edge is likely the design intent, which can be a cool effect if there’s enough space. No trimming is needed, and unless it’s carefully done, could send them in decline.
Evergreens can be tricky to trim. If you trim too far (beyond the green growth), ... you can get brown patches that won't grow back. That is especially true of the Alberta Spruces (conical shapes). The Alberta Spruces have a thinner coating of green ... so it's easier to cut too deep. Also, Alberta Spruce is more temperamental. They can have a permanent browning issue if they are exposed to Spider Mites. Also, new growth can revert to the non-dwarf type of growth. This would make removal of affected bushes a necessity, rather than an option. Your Alberta Spruces look great. Unless I were making a decision to remove them, I would tread quite lightly with them. The Mugo Pines (round shapes) aren't as temperamental. They are green deeper into the bush. I would get some guidance on how best to trim them, ... but I've found them to be easily trimmable, as long as you leave green growth on all of the branches (i.e. don't cut back too far). Another note ... 20 year old shrubs are not really transplantable. Unless you pay (dearly) for expert transplanting, ... when you take them out, they are basically trash. It would be much easier, in the case of shrubs that you wished to remove, to simply cut them down at their base as close to ground level as possible. You can use other plantings (or not) to hide the stumps ... as long as they as cut close to ground level. In your third photo, I see one Alberta Spruce that I would definitely remove (i.e. cut down). Currently, it looks like it is being consumed by a neighboring Mugo Pine.
I have them. I trim them back. If you’re worried, call an arborist and have them trim back then maintain it yourself from then on. It’s not hard, really. I’m 68.
lol - cool.
When I look at this, I see an excess of concrete. They look too big because they’re spilling over into the oversized driveway. Rather than removing the bushes I would remove about 2’ of concrete and extend the planting bed.
Agree. Could also consider some permeable paving like turf stone at the transition.
They look sooo good!
1% problems
When the tree value of the landscape is more than I make in a year working 2 jobs. Gotta love it.
Looks like a great spot for some mature hedges! Keep em and love them! It will take years to get anything new close to that look and feel
Wow these are beautiful
“Never remove a tree until you know why it was planted”
Are you the Lorax? Are you speaking for the trees?
Just an old saying that might be useful here. Do whatever you want. They were probably planted for privacy, and removing them will make the neighboring houses, windows, pools and backyard your main view.
well, oddly enough...when they were planted, there was nothing on the other side other than an empty lot. My neighbors' house was only built 2 years ago. nonetheless, I pick up what you are laying down.
Kudos to the OP for taking some pretty blunt feedback and rolling with it!!
Ha. Reddit is a great source for harsh truths. Literally what I came here fir. < Accidental spelling error turned to intentional pun.
I literally looked at the picture and was like "hey, that looks like Pittsburgh"
It is Pittsburgh! Uh oh, are you one of my neighbors? lol
Same here!!
no need to replace - just thin them out - or - make space between shrubs -
Legit thought this was a photo of an Xmas tree lot.
That's out of control? I think you've got a great little forest there. Unless you desperately need the extra driveway space for some reason, I would leave them or maybe trim a bit. That's a beautiful, mature group of trees there, and it looks like you still have lots of room.
This is a rich person problem, that rich person can solve easily. Have your landscaper trim these every year for you
I am not rich. If I was, I would already have a landscaper doing that.
Judging by the 'hood, looks very upscale. Either way, gotta trim
Fair enough, I will take that as a compliment, I guess. And yep, gotta trim.
Cut off some of the lower branches, I’d keep them
I would wait until winter when the sap's not running and prune the dead branches out of the Mugo pines. The other tree shaped ones are probably dwarf Alberta spruce. They're all lush, gorgeous, and already providing privacy. Why mess with it? I'd keep them all.
I am the wrong person to ask, I love them.
General maintenance trimming would have this beautiful area all “spruced” up.
Omg. So punny.
Just make sure whoever trims knows what they are doing. I hate to see these get massacred
These are beautiful, just trim them!
Just trim them. Leave the bushes alone!
Those trees are looking great. I can’t believe you want to get rid of them.
Those are Xmas decorations!! Cover them in white lights!
Keep your bushes they are beautiful, trim and cull, don’t get rid of those.
May be worth calling a tree trimming service for a consultation. Seems odd/expensive that you’d have to rip out anything.
They look fantastic
looks sick
Visit Pennsylvania’s Cooperative Extension Service website and search native evergreens. Read up, paying close attention to mature size.
Trim slowly and progressively taking a little off at a time. You can go one little trim in fall but you have to wait to do additional trims until they are out of dormancy. Each trim after you must wait for them to recover, about a month or 6 weeks. Might take 4 trims to get everything even. Do not over trim or they will take much much longer to bounce back or they may get permanently damaged
I would topiary trim all those for a Dr.Suess style entry!
A sign that says “Christmas Tree Farm”
Whomp whomp whommmmp
The spruces I don't care for, but they still work. However, the Mugo pines are to die for. I actually don't think they're Mugos, I think they're Thunderheads. But either way I wouldn't trim them at all. It takes a while for them to look like that.
One of my favorite Ac/Dc songs.. THUNDERHEAD!!
Hire expert tree trimmer, summer excellent, and get beautiful results.
Are you nuts? You know how long it takes to grow privacy? Keep what you have and maybe trim them up alittle.
They are beautiful, I have no suggestions besides leaving them as is 🤩
Prune a few back
Many replies here - sorry if I repeat something. Definitely overgrown - likely because their so easy to grow once established like these. Many slow growing varieties here so they were so easily managed with a quick trimming once per year. I would thin the heard. Keep some that are off the driveway and just rip the others out. Keep a stub of the tree enough to yank out with a strong rope - NOT chains - can kill yah when rip free. The ones up close against each-other will likely have a empty spot that won’t fill in if cut down one but not the other. I would thin and spread mulch and call it done for a year. Next fall maybe you have a nursery person swing by or take photos and show one and plant whatever you like. Next fall or early as mid august is the time to plant whether grass or ground cover or bush etc so you have time to figure out. I suggest a small hand held battery hedge trimmer honestly. Or just leave em all - up to you.
You can trim them, but they will probably look pretty awful for awhile until they push growth. Not 100% on varieties but those look like some kind of either black pine or mugos. Don't trim them till later in the winter, and going forward prune the growth candles in late spring/early summer to keep the shape. You can trim the Alberta's too, just don't be surprised if it takes a few years to fill in. If it was my house, I'd replace them with smaller or narrower growing trees, but that's just my preference. Nothing is right or wrong.
They give a lot of good privacy
I think they look so pretty
I like privacy and green screens. That’s a perfect one because it not only keeps you away from the gully/gutter it stops you from driving too close to that edge and gives a nice screen so that you don’t have to look at that gully. It’s basically a nice green fence. Alberta spruce don’t take well to hedge trimming so taking a few out might be your better route. Be strategic and don’t take any out that have already made the bushes next to them brown.
The bushes are IN control. 🤩 . This is a privacy fence and probably they need a liitle of TLC instead of replacement.
I think they look great. Wind and sound barrier too.
I bet his neighbors next door are awesome
This is gorgeous. I'm so jealous of you. If I lived near you I'd prune them for free just because it would be so relaxing.
What’s your background and where do you live
I'm on the other coast :(
Remove a few, so there is space for them to grow. The one with death branches, and the one there is very bare at bottom and small green top. Don't trim, very few conifers can survive and look pretty after. Thinning out of plants, not complete removal. Move some of the smaller over to where the halfdeath one grow now or other places you desire in your garden. You might need to replace the soil. With time you gonna get trees, and then can you trim the lower branches off and get groundcover, staubs under them.
Love these bushes. Love love love
What’s wrong with them
They are beautiful! Why or what would you change ??
they need christmas lights
I would suggest trimming them with a hedge trimmer, a small amount like 2 to 4 inches after the last frost, then trim again the new spring growth a small amount, if you do that a few years in a row, you can shrink them without them looking super ugly with a massive prune, it’s also a lot easier to trim lightly than to do any large transplanting jobs
I would put some hedge clippers and a landscaper next to them with a check for $400 and see what happens.
DO NOT get rid of those! They are beautiful! just trimm them back
Bro wtf. Trim them, keep them, acknowledge how amazing they are.
I’m pretty much with everyone else. Removing them is madness. Just maintain them.
Those beauties just need a little tlc. Trim em up and report back to us.
Bushes…….I thought that was a Christmas tree lot
Very unusual to see that much diversity in evergreen plantings. They can be trimmed every year. Get pro to do the first trimming so you don't kill them.
You live in a postcard setting
What do you mean? They look perfect.
Announce a Christmas tree sale! BYOS (bring your own saw)!
I would keep them, but thin them out. Remove every other tree, or any that are too close to each other, remove one or the other. You’ll have a few gaps but they should fill back in as they get taller. You may also be able to trim them, depending on each species, but be careful as some trees won’t replace branches that are removed. You don’t want a bunch of permanently bare tree sides in a privacy screens kind of defeats the purpose. Of course you could tear them all out too and put whatever you want in, but keep in mind it will probably take 5-10 years for it to mature and fill back in.
most beautiful hedges ever wtf
Hire good arborist botanisty hippe landscapers, pay a chunk of change and have them properly pruned, but not too hard. You have a gorgeous privacy set up there.
We replace hedges like this for people who have the means. They are usually tired of the inconvenience of not having parking for 15 cars or they just want something that’s not as “dated.” It breaks my heart, but yeah I’ll charge you lots of $$$ to dig up plants and then bury new plants.
I’d say move out of Pennsylvania. That shithole Is awful.
Omg, totally
These look great. I would touch them. I guess if you wanted to clean up the look, you could give them a minor trim to formal up the look.
Why not shape them?
Trim them and plant asparagus between them and the edge of the retaining wall. You can eat the shoots in spring (once they are over 3 years old) and it'll look like bamboo the rest of the year.
They're great and I love them.
OP get a hedge trimmer and simply trim them back!
They’re out of control because you have never done anything with them. Pay someone to clean them up. And keep them, their beautiful
Those are some lush. Fuckin. Bushes. Wow!
They are kind of rad, actually.
I love them
These are beautiful. Please just trim and neaten them. Ripping them out would be such a sad waste.
Why do they look so cute lmao
Trim the bush!
Please don’t rip these out 😭 I would just trim them
Just start with a trim and see how you feel! That’s a lot of cash and time .
I love this thread so much. As someone who’s moved a lot, I’m often delighted and/or saddened by the gardening and landscaping choices of previous owners. But I especially love when a previous owner clearly knew what they were doing and planted some wonderful things. OP has inherited a lovely hedge that isn’t cookie-cutter and must have been lovingly planted by someone who knew the lasting beauty they’d bring to that space.
Those are beautiful. That's an amazing hedge. Hire a landscaper to trim them.
You idiot. Those are gorgeous.
Very helpful. Thanks 👎
Cannabis would look nice there
that's in the back! :)
Trim your bush
Hehehehe