Our customer had recently moved into a lovely new property in the town of Berkhampstead. The garden had been well maintained and looked after by the previous owner including a nicely kept Privet hedge running along the boundary.
The Privet hedge, although well maintained, had become quite wide and not as easily manageable as it could be. The client wanted a more manageable hedge, whilst simultaneously reclaiming some of the lost garden that the Privet hedge had encroached upon. There was additional work to do to a large apple tree at the bottom of the garden that had been neglected.
How hard can Privet hedging be pruned?
Unlike some hedging plants (generally coniferous), Privet can tolerate heavy pruning. This hedgerow was cut hard back right up to the boundary revealing bare stems inside. As can be seen from the before and after images, the customer managed to reclaim a good 1 meter of the ground all the way around the garden which made a huge amount of difference. Now that the hedge has been pruned back hard, ongoing regular trimming will be required to regain a nice compact wall of growth. This will come back. but will require successive trimming over the course of a few growing seasons.
