Shrub & Hedge Trimming

Keep Your Shrubs Looking Their Best

Shrubs and hedges are the backbone of most landscaping. They provide structure, privacy, and green backdrop for your flowers and lawn. But they need regular trimming to stay healthy and look good. Without maintenance, shrubs get leggy, sparse, and overgrown. Hedges lose their shape and develop gaps. What should be an attractive landscape feature becomes an eyesore.

Regular trimming does more than just improve appearance. It promotes denser growth, removes dead or diseased branches, and keeps plants at a manageable size. Many flowering shrubs bloom better when pruned at the right time. Proper trimming also improves air circulation through the plant, reducing disease problems.

Professional trimming makes your entire landscape look maintained and cared for. It's one of those details that people notice without realizing what they're seeing. Well-trimmed shrubs signal that someone takes pride in the property.

How We Trim Different Types of Plants

Formal Hedges and Shaped Shrubs

Formal hedges need precise, regular trimming to maintain their crisp lines and uniform appearance. We use hedge trimmers and hand pruners to create clean edges while keeping the hedge full and dense all the way to the ground. The key is trimming often enough that we only remove new growth, never cutting back into old, woody stems that won't sprout new leaves.

Common shrubs and hedges we maintain include:

• •Boxwood, privet, and other classic hedge plants that form dense screens
• •Foundation plantings like yews, junipers, and holly around home perimeters
• •Evergreen shrubs that provide year-round structure and privacy screening
• •Flowering shrubs like lilacs, hydrangeas, and spireas that need timing-specific pruning
• •Ornamental grasses and perennial plants that require seasonal cutting back

Natural Form Shrubs

Not every shrub should be shaped into boxes or balls. Many look best when allowed to maintain their natural form with selective pruning rather than shearing. We hand-prune these plants to enhance their natural shape while controlling size and removing dead or crossing branches. This takes more skill and time than running a hedge trimmer, but the results look better and the plants stay healthier.

The same principles we use for tree trimming and pruning apply to larger shrubs. We make thoughtful cuts that improve structure and promote healthy growth rather than just whacking everything back randomly.

When and How Often to Trim

Seasonal Trimming Schedule

Timing depends on what type of plants you have and how formal you want them to look. Fast-growing hedges might need trimming three or four times during the growing season to maintain crisp edges. Slower-growing evergreens might only need attention once or twice a year. Flowering shrubs have specific timing windows to avoid cutting off next year's blooms.

Most hedges and formal shrubs get their main trimming in late spring after the initial growth flush. This shapes them for summer. A second trimming in mid-to-late summer keeps them neat through fall. Some people want trimming in early spring too, especially for hedges that need to look perfect year-round.

Flowering Shrub Considerations

Flowering shrubs are trickier because timing affects next year's blooms. Shrubs that flower on new growth can be pruned in late winter or early spring. Those that flower on old wood need trimming right after they finish blooming. Pruning at the wrong time won't kill the plant, but you'll sacrifice flowers for a season.

We know which shrubs are which and time our work accordingly. If you have valuable flowering shrubs, it's worth having professionals handle them rather than risk cutting off all the flower buds accidentally.

Complete Service From Start to Finish

Thorough Cleanup

Trimming creates a lot of debris. Branches, leaves, and clippings end up everywhere if you're not careful. We clean up completely as part of every job. Clippings get bagged or hauled away, flower beds get cleared of debris, and your property looks better than before we arrived.

Some customers want to keep clippings for composting or mulch. We're happy to pile material wherever you want it instead of hauling it away. Just let us know your preference when we schedule the work.

Ongoing Maintenance Programs

Many customers prefer regular scheduled service rather than calling each time trimming is needed. We can set up seasonal maintenance where we visit at appropriate intervals throughout the year. This ensures your hedges and shrubs always look good without you having to think about scheduling.

Regular maintenance costs less per visit than one-off service calls, and your landscaping benefits from consistent care. If you need other services like tree health maintenance, we can coordinate everything during the same visits for convenience.

Shrub Trimming Questions