HOME GARDENS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 64, 16 November 1949, Page 3

HOME GARDENS

(By J. S. Yeates, Massey Agricultural College) TRIMMING OF HEDGES \ In our climate very few gardens are much good without hedges for shelter, as well as for their value as a brackground and for privacy. All hedges need trimming if they are to give the best results, and the trimming season for most types of hedge is now close to hand. The purposes of trimming are several. If you have a young hedge planted in its last year or two trimming in its earliest stages can play a most important part in making it a good thick shelter—especially near the ground. Each time you cut or pinch the growing tops out of a young plant, it produces branches from the stem just below where it was cut. It is most important to have your hedge with an abundance of branches near the ground, so if you have a young hedge, keep on cutting the tips out, say three or four times a year- at least. The different types of hedge plants vary in their power of recovery after trimming. Some of them, like Australian ngaio, privet, Lonicera, barberry, boxthorn and eleagnus, recover very well, and can cut back bard—even to the stumps. This is a very useful /feature, because if the hedge gets overgrown and open at the bottom we can cut it hard back and make a fresh start. Some of the other common hedges are not so reliable in their recovery, and should be trimmed somewhat more carefully. This group includes the popular escallonia, prebalium, abeiia, three lucei-ne, and any of the native pittosporums. If any of these is growing too big for the situation and has to be reduced in size, there is a serious risk of plants dying out. If you are in doubt, trim only one side or top severely in one year, and let it recover if it will, before cutting another side. The third group of hedge plants has no ability to sprout r from old wood. Once you cut a branch back beyond where it has green leaves, that branch cannot make new growth and will die. This group includes practically all the members of the pine family—such as macrocarpa, Lawsoniana, and Pinus insignis. The yew, and our native totara have some ability to “break” from old wood. The yew in particular is an especially good permanent hedge plant for those who do not demand full results in five or ten years. Ignorance of the inability of the pine group to sprout from the old wood is the cause of many gappy hedges of macrocarpa and Lawsoniana. If they are to be kept down to a reasonable size they must be trimmed little and often—two or three times a year in our rapid growing conditions would be about right. It must be understood however, that they must gradually become , taller and wider, because the needles die off the older twigs and the trees must be allowed to retain some of the newer growth if they are to live. ' The general run of hedges in a garden should be trimmed at least twice a year—in early summer and again in the autumn. If the hedge is slightly tender to frost—like Australian ngaio—the autumn trimming must be about late February so that new growth is not soft enough to be damaged by frost. The flowering hedge like abelia and fuchsia are trimmed once a year, just after flowering.