We have an arborvitae hedge on one side of our driveway that is almost as high as our house. I was eyeballing it one day and decided it needed to be cleaned up. Nothing drastic, a little trim here and there and maybe a little off the top.
Anne was skeptical, being of the general opinion that arborvitae (Thuja) shouldn't be pruned.
Well, I didn't really want to PRUNE them, I just wanted to neaten them up a bit.
When I researched the subject, I discovered a wide variety of opinion ranging from prune them whenever and however you want and prune them in the spring before new growth to don't cut back into wood more than a year old and arborvitae don't need to be pruned. Hmmm. That covers all of the bases.
Some say topping will encourage bushier growth, some say it won't. I guess the former is more likely with younger, smaller plants. If I were buying, I'd certainly be looking for bushy, not tall and spindly.
There is one recurring piece of advice: beware of pruning out all of the green growth in an area or you may be looking at a bare spot for some time, perhaps permanently.
After discussing the results of my research with Anne, we decided to go ahead. I did a subtle trimming of "fat spots" and took a little off the top. I made no attempt to equalize the height. In my opinion, the individual plant heights varied too much for that approach. And, besides, I didn't really want a straight edge anyway.
The hedge was looking a little ragged and I just wanted to smooth out the look. The amount I took off the top ranged from nothing to a foot or so.
The result was subtle but it accomplished exactly what I set out to do and I like the rounded-dome look on the tops. So far, there are no negative side-effects to report.
Maybe next year I'll try growing clematis on them …
WR
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