Pruning
We provide a detailed, formative pruning service for each of the needs of your individual fruiting or flowering plants and shrubs. Pruning plants accurately and at the correct time of year is of key importance and will ensure a significant improvement in their vigour, performance and overall health throughout their life cycle.
Do I need to prune my plants and shrubs each year?
There are many ornamental shrubs and trees that can be allowed to grow without regular pruning or shaping. Sometimes, though, you may need to restrict the size, remove dead or diseased growth, increase vigour to improve the shape or just keep the plant in a healthy state to produce flowers and fruits.
Certain shrubs that have been left unpruned will continue growing from where the growth ended the previous season, becoming leggy, bulky and top heavy, more susceptible to harbouring pests and diseases, flowering well above eye level and with poor growth around the base.
Hedge trimming
Hedgerows can provide many benefits and uses within your garden. They can improve air quality, reduce temperatures in your garden by providing shade, screen unsightly views or reduce noise from a busy neighbouring building site or road, attract wildlife into the garden and provide corridors and habitats for our flora and fauna.
During the design concept, hedgerows are often used to define a boundary line, wall or fence between adjoining properties and can also be used to divide up a large space, creating different areas within the garden. They also provide an aesthetic value and may be chosen for their unique foliage or scent, fruit or flower, texture, colour, size, shape or form.
Once a hedgerow has become established, an annual maintenance programme is essential in promoting strong, healthy growth and continued vigour, year on year. These programmes include nutritional applications, weed control treatments and formative hedge pruning.
Why do I need to have my hedgerows trimmed back each year?
Hedge trimming is important for many reasons. It can help you shape the form and stimulate fruit and flower growth, get rid of diseased or dead branches, and help prevent overgrowth, which can hinder the growth of your other plants.
Here are a few examples of the types of hedges and shrubs Urban Roots Horticulture can help you with:
- Cypress hedges, including Leyland Cypress and Lawson Cypress
- Deciduous hedges, such as Beech, Hazel, Hornbeam and Forsythia
- Evergreen hedges, including Common Laurel, Red Robin, Box, Pyracantha, Thuja, Holly and Privet
- Mixed hedgerows — mixtures of species including Hawthorn, Blackthorn, Whitethorn, Field Maple, Spindle, Alder, Elder, Dogwood, Hazel and Guelder Rose