Bringing an overgrown hedge back to height
A screening hedge left for a few years is usually too tall to reach safely and much wider than you planted it. Getting it back is a two-step job: bring the height down to something you can manage, then cut the faces back to where there is still healthy growth.
Step one: the height
We take the top down to the height you want to keep, or a little lower so the new growth finishes at the right line. On tall screens this is EWP work: level, safe, and without someone balancing a hedge trimmer on a ladder.
Step two: the faces
The sides come back to where there is still live growth. How far that is depends entirely on the species. Lilly pilly, murraya, viburnum and photinia re-shoot from old wood, so they can be cut hard and will fill in over a season. Conifers such as Leyland cypress and most cypress and pine hedges will not regrow from bare wood; cut past the green and the brown stays, so they can only be reduced within the live foliage. Bamboo is thinned by removing whole culms and topped.
Timing
Late winter or early spring gives a hard-cut hedge the growing season to recover. We avoid heavy reductions in the heat of midsummer. A very overgrown hedge can be done in two stages so it never looks completely bare.
Council rules
Routine trimming rarely needs approval, but several Sydney councils cap how much canopy can come off in a year (Canterbury-Bankstown allows 10% of a native or 20% of an exotic without a permit, for example), and some treat a hedge as trees once it passes their height or trunk threshold (Ku-ring-gai's application form is literally "one tree or hedge"). Removing a hedge of a protected species can need a permit. We check your council before we quote; the rules for every Sydney council are on our main website.
Neighbours and hedges
Under the NSW Trees (Disputes Between Neighbours) Act, the Land and Environment Court can order work on a hedge of two or more trees 2.5 m or taller that severely blocks sunlight to a window or a view. Reducing a hedge before it gets to that point is a lot cheaper than a court application. Our guide to neighbour disputes explains the process.
Questions people ask us
Will my hedge survive a hard cut?
Lilly pilly, murraya, viburnum and photinia almost always do, and look bare for a season before filling in. Conifers won't regrow from bare wood, so we only take them back to live green. If a hedge can't be saved at the height you want, we'll say so and talk about replacing it.
Can you do it in stages?
Yes. A very overgrown hedge is sometimes best reduced over two seasons: height first, then the faces once it has re-shot, so it never looks completely bare.
Do I need council approval to reduce a hedge?
Usually not for trimming, but several councils cap how much canopy can be removed in a year, and some count a hedge as trees once it is over their size threshold. We check your council before we quote.
What happens to the clippings?
Chipped on site and taken away, or left as mulch if you'd like it.
Hedge past the point of a ladder?
Send a photo with the length and height. We'll say what it will take and give you a fixed price.