We are currently working our way through the garden. Not everything that the previous owner had planted seems to have been properly maintained in recent years.
Along the side boundaries of the property, there were thuja hedges planted. These were a single row, which we were still able to trim fairly comfortably with the electric hedge trimmer. It was our first time doing this, so maybe there are special techniques we don’t know about. We cut quite aggressively, and now you mainly see dried brown parts and cut branches. It doesn’t look great—will it grow back green again?
The bigger problem, however, is a real jungle of thuja planted around the inner courtyard, which rises from the basement level. The "slope" up to the ground floor level is like a staircase made of flower pots and is about 3.50 meters (11.5 feet) high. This means you can’t stand securely from the front to trim the thuja, and from behind it’s practically not accessible either. This doesn’t seem to be just a single row of thuja but rather twisted hedges forming a thicket. I would estimate it’s about 2 meters (6.5 feet) wide. From the back, at garden ground level, we can access the rear side of this thuja jungle and have already cut back quite a bit there.
Even standing safely from the back, the problem is that the hedges have grown so densely that, despite using a powerful electric hedge trimmer, it’s difficult to cut much because the branches are so thick. We can’t get the trimmer far enough into the thicket to really reduce the height.
Chainsaw? Should we call in a professional?
Along the side boundaries of the property, there were thuja hedges planted. These were a single row, which we were still able to trim fairly comfortably with the electric hedge trimmer. It was our first time doing this, so maybe there are special techniques we don’t know about. We cut quite aggressively, and now you mainly see dried brown parts and cut branches. It doesn’t look great—will it grow back green again?
The bigger problem, however, is a real jungle of thuja planted around the inner courtyard, which rises from the basement level. The "slope" up to the ground floor level is like a staircase made of flower pots and is about 3.50 meters (11.5 feet) high. This means you can’t stand securely from the front to trim the thuja, and from behind it’s practically not accessible either. This doesn’t seem to be just a single row of thuja but rather twisted hedges forming a thicket. I would estimate it’s about 2 meters (6.5 feet) wide. From the back, at garden ground level, we can access the rear side of this thuja jungle and have already cut back quite a bit there.
Even standing safely from the back, the problem is that the hedges have grown so densely that, despite using a powerful electric hedge trimmer, it’s difficult to cut much because the branches are so thick. We can’t get the trimmer far enough into the thicket to really reduce the height.
Chainsaw? Should we call in a professional?
Chainsaw first, then an excavator or similar equipment for the roots. Thuja requires regular light pruning if you really want to keep it. They naturally lose foliage inside, and it won’t grow back if, like you, you cut away the green layer.
If you remove them (which I honestly think is the best solution based on your description), you will need to improve the soil before you can plant anything else there successfully, as Thuja depletes the soil.
If you remove them (which I honestly think is the best solution based on your description), you will need to improve the soil before you can plant anything else there successfully, as Thuja depletes the soil.
I completely agree with Kekse – we also have this kind of nasty stuff here, but since we’re still renting, we weren’t allowed to remove it (and in the end, the effort wouldn’t have been worth it for us anyway).
If you cut down to the bare brown wood, nothing will grow back there – and yes, I would pay a professional for that because it’s a really tough job to get everything out – and they can also replace the soil at the same time.
If you cut down to the bare brown wood, nothing will grow back there – and yes, I would pay a professional for that because it’s a really tough job to get everything out – and they can also replace the soil at the same time.
Well... nasty stuff. If you take care of them, they make a nice hedge where birds like to nest and butterflies are present. If you let them grow unchecked, they are hard to cut back. I also think they’re done for, and the ones still standing have gone out of control as well. They’re actually trees, and when planted as solitary specimens, they grow really large and very old. Karsten
Once they have already overgrown, it is hard to shape them – if you plant them young, you can prune the shoots laterally as well, of course, but regularly and never too much.
I also find them nice as a solitary plant, but as I have mentioned elsewhere 😉 I don’t really like to feel enclosed in the garden, so I find hedges of this kind rather, well, ugly. Even though blackbirds, tits, and robins do live in them. (In our case, combined with a 2m (6.5 ft) high surrounding wooden palisade fence on a concrete foundation wall, so completely cat-proof, which is why I don’t know whether the birds like the thuja or the barricaded garden more).
To stick to the topic – you could also leave 2-3 main trunks standing and let rambling roses climb on them. I just don’t know how they would cope with the soil.
I also find them nice as a solitary plant, but as I have mentioned elsewhere 😉 I don’t really like to feel enclosed in the garden, so I find hedges of this kind rather, well, ugly. Even though blackbirds, tits, and robins do live in them. (In our case, combined with a 2m (6.5 ft) high surrounding wooden palisade fence on a concrete foundation wall, so completely cat-proof, which is why I don’t know whether the birds like the thuja or the barricaded garden more).
To stick to the topic – you could also leave 2-3 main trunks standing and let rambling roses climb on them. I just don’t know how they would cope with the soil.
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