How often should you trim a hedge?

The quick answer

For a typical garden hedge, one trim in late summer keeps it respectable, and a second lighter trim earlier in the growing year keeps it sharp. Very vigorous hedges may need a third. Slow, dense hedges can often manage with one. The aim is to cut little and often enough that you are always trimming this year's soft growth rather than hacking into old wood.

We trim and shape laurel, privet, conifer, Leylandii, yew, beech, hornbeam, hawthorn, mixed native and ornamental hedging, and the rhythm below reflects the widely accepted guidance for each.

Fast growers: privet, Leylandii and lonicera

Privet and box leaf honeysuckle put on growth all season and lose their shape quickly, so two or three light trims through the growing months keeps them tight. Leylandii is the one to watch. It grows fast but does not regrow from bare brown wood, so a hedge left too long can never be cut back into its old line without leaving dead patches. Regular trimming is the only real way to keep a Leylandii hedge at a set height.

Steady growers: laurel, beech and hornbeam

Cherry laurel is vigorous but broad leaved, so one or two careful trims a year is usually plenty. Beech and hornbeam are normally cut once in late summer. Trimmed at that point they tend to hold their brown leaves over winter, which gives screening even in the cold months.

Slow growers: yew and holly

Yew is slow, dense and forgiving. A single trim in late summer is usually enough for a crisp finish, and unlike most conifers it will regrow from older wood, which is why overgrown yew can often be restored. Holly is similar in pace and happy with one cut.

Native and mixed hedges

Hawthorn, blackthorn and mixed country hedges are often cut once a year, commonly after the nesting season and once berries have been eaten. Leaving them a little looser makes them better for wildlife and still keeps them stock or boundary proof.

• Privet and Leylandii: two or three light trims a year
• Laurel: one or two trims
• Beech and hornbeam: one trim in late summer
• Yew and holly: one trim
• Native mixed hedges: usually once a year

Signs your hedge is due

The top has lost its line and looks fluffy. Shoots are reaching across the path or pavement. The sides have started to lean out so the base is in shade and going thin. The hedge is creeping over the boundary onto a neighbour's side or blocking a sightline at a driveway. Any of those means it is time.

If it has gone well past a trim and needs taking back hard in height or width, that is a reduction rather than a routine trim, and it is worth reading our guide on reducing or removing an overgrown hedge.

Birds and timing

Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act it is an offence to damage or destroy an active bird's nest. Spring and early summer is the busiest period, so any hedge cut then should be checked first and left if birds are nesting. That is one reason the main trim for many hedges falls in late summer.

Putting it on a regular plan

Many customers simply add their hedges to a garden maintenance plan so the trims happen at the right time without anyone having to remember. Others book one visit a year. Either way, every clipping is cleared away when we finish.