on thinning and rejuvenating a tangled cotoneaster hedge

I already said February and March are good times to prune (except roses and spring-flowering shrubs such as lilacs).  So yesterday, that beautiful, sunny warm afternoon, I went outside and started re-shaping the cotoneaster hedge that borders my adventure garden. 

I already got rid of half of the hedge a couple of years ago to make room for fruit-producing shrubs, but I did keep some of the hedge in the hard-to-reach corner of the yard and because I love the fall colour of cotoneasters so much.  But I am not a hedge person.  I will not be trimming a hedge multiple times over a year to keep it trim and neat.  Too much work.  I also prefer shrubs in a more natural form.

So how am I rejuvenating this hedge and keeping it low maintenance?  It was very old and overgrown so last year at this time I hacked back more than 50% of the branches right at ground level - especially branches that were crooked and crossing over other ones.  Over the course of last year's growing season, many thin new shoots grew up at the base of each shrub.  I want to train only some of those to become new branches, so this year I cut most of those shoots back except for about 3-5 per shrub.  I kept the thickest, straightest branches that were growing towards the outside of the shrub and were not crossing over any other branches, and got rid of the rest of the shoots. 

There.  I'm done taking care of that hedge for the year.

For way more details on pruning than I'm prepared to write about, check out Fine Gardening's online article.

Comments

[Teresa McLaren]

I have a cotoneaster hedge with a dead patch I would like to thin and rejuvenate as well as an individual shrub in my front yard I would like to get rid of. What is the best way to get rid of the shrub. Chainsaw down to the ground? Thanks I love your blog!

[Janice Miller-Young]

Good question Teresa!

The best way is to cut the branches off at the ground and dig out the root ball.  Youll probably need an axe and/or a pick axe to do that, or tree service companies have stump grinders.

Actually, I took the lazy route in removing my hedge and just cut the branches off at the ground, put shredded bark mulch down over the area, then spent one growing season pulling off any of the new shoots that grew until the roots finally died.  I would only recommend doing that if you are sure you never want to plant anything (including grass) in that spot again, otherwise the old roots will get in the way.  In my case, I was putting a mulch pathway down beside the new shrubs, which were offset from the old hedge so that the mulched area became a pathway for picking the fruit from the new shrubs. 

Hope that helps!

Cheers,
Janice

[Teresa McLaren]

Thanks! That does help. I think I'll try to get a stump grinder in as I would like to plant a nice fruit tree in that spot eventually.