Trimming hedges and pruning cherry laurel: when, how often, with what
A clipped hedge usually needs trimming twice a year: in late May or June, after the first flush of growth, and in August; fast-growing privet and Leyland cypress even three times. Stop at the end of August so the new growth ripens before winter (yew can be clipped into September). Cut cherry laurel and other large-leaved hedges with secateurs, as a hedge trimmer slices the leaves. Trim the hedge narrower at the top, and if you see a nest in it, wait until the young have flown. Never cut cypress-family hedges back to the brown, leafless part, as they do not regrow from it.
Updated: November 5, 2026 · Prices checked: November 2, 2026 · Data and prices from our plant database, worked out for your country. How our data is made
When to trim a hedge?
A formally clipped hedge is trimmed twice a year: in late spring or early summer, once the first spring growth has grown, and in August, after the summer growth. Fast-growing privet and Leyland cypress are worth trimming three times, slow yew and holly once or twice is enough. Shape an informal, unclipped flowering hedge once a year, after flowering.
Stop trimming at the end of August: growth made later does not ripen before winter, freezes and leaves brown patches. Yew is the exception and can be clipped into September. Do not trim in hot midday sun, as freshly cut leaves scorch; a dry, overcast day is best.
Birds nest from March to August, and hedges are one of their favourite nesting places. In Hungary most wild birds are protected and damaging their nests is forbidden. Before trimming, check the hedge for nests; where there is one, wait there until the young have flown.
Plant by plant
- When to trim
- June–September
- A year
- 1-2 times
- Tool
- hedge trimmer
- Can be cut back hard?
- yes, regrows from old wood
- When to trim
- May–August
- A year
- 2 times
- Tool
- hedge trimmer
- Can be cut back hard?
- no, does not regrow from brown wood
- When to trim
- July–August
- A year
- once
- Tool
- secateurs
- Can be cut back hard?
- yes, regrows from old wood
- When to trim
- May–August
- A year
- 2 times
- Tool
- secateurs
- Can be cut back hard?
- yes, regrows from old wood
- When to trim
- May–August
- A year
- 2 times
- Tool
- secateurs
- Can be cut back hard?
- yes, regrows from old wood
- When to trim
- May–August
- A year
- 2 times
- Tool
- hedge trimmer
- Can be cut back hard?
- no, does not regrow from brown wood
- When to trim
- June–September
- A year
- 1-2 times
- Tool
- hedge trimmer
- Can be cut back hard?
- yes, regrows from old wood
- When to trim
- May–August
- A year
- 2 times
- Tool
- secateurs
- Can be cut back hard?
- yes, regrows from old wood
- When to trim
- July–August
- A year
- once
- Tool
- secateurs
- Can be cut back hard?
- yes, regrows from old wood
- When to trim
- June–August
- A year
- 1-2 times
- Tool
- hedge trimmer
- Can be cut back hard?
- yes, regrows from old wood
- When to trim
- June–August
- A year
- 1-2 times
- Tool
- hedge trimmer
- Can be cut back hard?
- yes, regrows from old wood
- When to trim
- June–July
- A year
- 1-2 times
- Tool
- secateurs
- Can be cut back hard?
- yes, regrows from old wood
- When to trim
- May–August
- A year
- 2 times
- Tool
- hedge trimmer
- Can be cut back hard?
- yes, regrows from old wood
- When to trim
- May–June
- A year
- once
- Tool
- secateurs
- Can be cut back hard?
- yes, regrows from old wood
- When to trim
- May–August
- A year
- 2-3 times
- Tool
- hedge trimmer
- Can be cut back hard?
- no, does not regrow from brown wood
- When to trim
- May–August
- A year
- 2-3 times
- Tool
- hedge trimmer
- Can be cut back hard?
- yes, regrows from old wood
- When to trim
- June–August
- A year
- 2 times
- Tool
- secateurs
- Can be cut back hard?
- yes, regrows from old wood
- When to trim
- May–August
- A year
- 2 times
- Tool
- secateurs
- Can be cut back hard?
- yes, regrows from old wood
- When to trim
- June–August
- A year
- 2 times
- Tool
- secateurs
- Can be cut back hard?
- yes, regrows from old wood
- When to trim
- May–August
- A year
- 1-2 times
- Tool
- hedge trimmer
- Can be cut back hard?
- no, does not regrow from brown wood
- When to trim
- May–August
- A year
- 2 times
- Tool
- hedge trimmer
- Can be cut back hard?
- no, does not regrow from brown wood
- When to trim
- May–August
- A year
- 2-3 times
- Tool
- hedge trimmer
- Can be cut back hard?
- yes, regrows from old wood
|
Hedge
|
When to trim
|
A year
|
Tool
|
Can be cut back hard?
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
June–September | 1-2 times | hedge trimmer | yes, regrows from old wood |
|
Arizona cypress
Evergreen
cypress family, attacked by the jewel beetle · mild-winter regions only, hardy to -18 °C
|
May–August | 2 times | hedge trimmer | no, does not regrow from brown wood |
|
|
July–August | once | secateurs | yes, regrows from old wood |
|
|
May–August | 2 times | secateurs | yes, regrows from old wood |
|
|
May–August | 2 times | secateurs | yes, regrows from old wood |
|
|
May–August | 2 times | hedge trimmer | no, does not regrow from brown wood |
|
|
June–September | 1-2 times | hedge trimmer | yes, regrows from old wood |
|
|
May–August | 2 times | secateurs | yes, regrows from old wood |
|
English holly
Evergreen
toxic to dogs, cats, children · mild-winter regions only, hardy to -18 °C · thorny
|
July–August | once | secateurs | yes, regrows from old wood |
|
European beech
Deciduous
|
June–August | 1-2 times | hedge trimmer | yes, regrows from old wood |
|
European hornbeam
Deciduous
|
June–August | 1-2 times | hedge trimmer | yes, regrows from old wood |
|
|
June–July | 1-2 times | secateurs | yes, regrows from old wood |
|
|
May–August | 2 times | hedge trimmer | yes, regrows from old wood |
|
|
May–June | once | secateurs | yes, regrows from old wood |
|
|
May–August | 2-3 times | hedge trimmer | no, does not regrow from brown wood |
|
|
May–August | 2-3 times | hedge trimmer | yes, regrows from old wood |
|
|
June–August | 2 times | secateurs | yes, regrows from old wood |
|
|
May–August | 2 times | secateurs | yes, regrows from old wood |
|
|
June–August | 2 times | secateurs | yes, regrows from old wood |
|
|
May–August | 1-2 times | hedge trimmer | no, does not regrow from brown wood |
|
Western red cedar
Evergreen
cypress family, attacked by the jewel beetle · toxic to dogs, cats, children
|
May–August | 2 times | hedge trimmer | no, does not regrow from brown wood |
|
|
May–August | 2-3 times | hedge trimmer | yes, regrows from old wood |
The table shows the hedge plants sold in your country. The months give the trimming time, the number of cuts is for a formally clipped hedge. “Can be cut back hard” means an overgrown, bare hedge regrows even when cut back to old wood.
How to trim?
- Trim the hedge narrower at the top: a little wider at the base than at the top. On a straight-sided and especially a top-heavy hedge the lower branches end up in shade and go bare within a few years.
- Cut the top straight along a taut string and round the top off slightly: snow settles on a flat, wide top and pushes the branches apart.
- Trim small-leaved hedges (privet, hornbeam, yew, cypresses) with a hedge trimmer. Large-leaved ones (cherry laurel, photinia, holly, Elaeagnus) with secateurs, shoot by shoot: a hedge trimmer cuts the large leaves in half, and the cut edges turn brown.
- Always work from the bottom up, and step back to look at the freshly cut part. Rake the clippings out from under the hedge afterwards.
Pruning cherry laurel
Prune cherry laurel twice a year: in late May or June, after the first flush, and in August. Work with secateurs and cut each shoot just above a leaf, so no half-cut, browning leaves are left. 'Novita' is pruned the same way.
Cherry laurel takes hard pruning well: in early spring, in March or April, you can cut an overgrown, bare plant back even to old, leafless wood, and it regrows by summer. If both sides of the hedge need cutting back, do one side one year and the other the next. Check for nests first.
Cherry laurel leaves and seeds are poisonous: wear gloves when pruning, and do not leave the clippings where children or animals can reach them.
Rejuvenating an overgrown, bare hedge
- Deciduous hedges and large-leaved evergreens (hornbeam, beech, privet, cherry laurel, photinia, holly) can be cut back hard and regrow even from old, leafless wood. Cut deciduous ones back in winter, after leaf fall, beech in February, evergreens in early spring.
- Of the conifers planted as hedges, only yew regrows from old wood. Spread its rejuvenation over two or three years, starting in mid-spring: in the first year cut back the top and one side hard, in the next the other side.
- If the hedge has to come down by half or more, spread the work over two years so the plants are not weakened. Feed, mulch and water after rejuvenating, and it regrows faster.
- Leyland cypress, thuja and false cypress do not regrow from brown, leafless wood: what is left there stays bare. An overgrown cypress hedge cannot be rejuvenated, only replaced. That is why these must be trimmed regularly from the start.
The first years
Trim a young hedge in its first two or three years too, even before it reaches the height you want: cut a deciduous one back by a third after planting, and on evergreens shape only the sides and leave the top until it reaches the height. That way it branches from the base and fills in at the bottom.
How much each hedge plant grows in a year, and so how often it needs trimming, is in the guide to fast-growing hedges; planting steps and plant numbers are in the hedge planting guide.
Sources
The advice rests on these expert pages and laws, adapted to Central European winters and soils. The tables come from our own plant database.
- Natur im Garten: Schnitthecken-Vierteiler – Teil 1
- Stadt Wien: Information Schutzmaßnahmen für Vögel und Fledermäuse bei Baumfällungen und Schnittmaßnahmen
- Nemzeti Jogszabálytár: 1996. évi LIII. törvény a természet védelméről (43. §)
- Slov-Lex: 543/2002 Z. z. Zákon o ochrane prírody a krajiny (§ 35)
- RHS: Pruning hedges
More guides
How to plan a garden, step by step
A garden is best planned in six steps: survey the site (light, soil, water, winter), decide what you will use it for, set the framework that still shows in winter, then lay out the border in layers, tall at the back and low at the front. Choose plants so that something flowers from spring to autumn, and finally work out the number of plants and the cost from the planting distances. Our garden planner works by the same rules.
Fast-growing hedges: how much each grows in a year
The fastest hedge plant is the Leyland cypress, growing about 90 cm a year, followed by cherry laurel 'Novita', firethorn and western red cedar at about 50 cm a year, then privet at 40 cm. How long a 180 cm hedge takes to screen depends more on the size of plant you buy: several years from small plants, one or two summers from large ones, but at many times the price per metre. The tables use the current shop prices in your country.
Ground cover plants against weeds: which goes where, and how many you need
A ground cover keeps weeds out once it has closed up: until then, usually for two or three summers, it needs mulch and weeding. Under trees and in shade, lesser periwinkle, bigroot geranium, barrenwort and barren strawberry do best; in sunny, dry places stonecrops, thymes and creeping junipers. Most perennial ground covers take 9-18 plants per square metre. The tables work out what a square metre costs at today's shop prices in your country.
Planting a hedge: how many plants per metre, and what it costs
Most hedge plants go in at 2-4 plants per metre: Leyland cypress 2, cherry laurel and photinia 2.5 (40 cm apart), yew 3, hornbeam 3.5, privet and beech 4. The plants go in one row, 80 cm from the fence, in autumn or early spring. What the hedge costs depends most on the size of the plants: the table works it out at today's shop prices in your country, for the length of your own hedge.
Building a rock garden: stone, soil and plants step by step
A rock garden belongs on a sunny, gentle slope, in lean, free-draining soil: one third garden soil, one third coarse sand, one third crushed stone. Lay the stones, all of one kind, in layers leaning the same way and sunk a third to a half into the ground, so that about two fifths of the surface is stone. Four to six plants per square metre are enough: creeping junipers and grasses make the frame, and between them cushion perennials, stonecrops and thymes flower from March to October.
A perennial border that flowers all summer: plants, layout, numbers
A perennial border flowers from spring to autumn when its backbone is long-flowering perennials that bloom from June to September (catmint, woodland sage, coneflower, yarrow, Russian sage, gaura), with bulbs around them for spring and Japanese anemone, sedum and asters for autumn. Plant in groups of 3-7, tall at the back, low at the front; on average you need 5-7 plants per square metre. The calendars show the hardy perennials for a sunny spot that shops in your country sell most widely, with the price per plant.
Planting and pruning hydrangeas: which to cut back when
For pruning, hydrangeas fall into two groups. Panicle and smooth hydrangeas (such as 'Annabelle') flower on this year's shoots: cut them back to 25-60 cm in February or March. Bigleaf and mountain hydrangeas flower from buds that grew last year: in spring take off only the faded flowers, or they will not flower that year. Plant in autumn or spring, with plenty of water; for limy soil choose panicle or smooth hydrangea, as bigleaf hydrangea wants acid or neutral soil and afternoon shade.
Planting tulips, daffodils and crocuses: when, how deep, how many
Spring-flowering bulbs go in in autumn: daffodils, crocuses and hyacinths from September to October, tulips from October to November, until the ground freezes. A bulb goes two to three times its own height deep (tulips and daffodils about 12-15 cm, crocuses 8-10 cm), tip up, at least twice its width from the next. Between perennials, 20 small, 8 medium and 4 large bulbs per square metre are enough. After flowering, leave their leaves on for six weeks.
Planting and pruning lavender: when, where, how much to cut
Lavender wants a sunny spot and loose, free-draining soil, and likes limy soil too; plant it in spring, in April or May, 30-45 cm apart for a hedge. Prune it twice a year: in spring, in late March or April once hard frosts are over, cut the shoots back by about two thirds, but always only into green, leafy growth; after flowering, in late July or August, take off the faded flower stalks with the top 2-3 centimetres of leaves, shaping a dome. Never cut into the bare, woody part, as lavender does not regrow from it. English lavender and 'Hidcote' survive hard winters, lavandin is a little more tender, and French lavender takes only mild winters.
Front garden: what to plant in front of the house, and how to plan it
A front garden shows all year from the street and the door, so its frame matters most: at least a third of the planted area should be evergreen or attractive in winter, with long-flowering perennials and spring bulbs between. Leave a 40 cm gravel strip along the house wall, plant at least 50 cm from the wall, and a tree at least 3 metres from it. The aspect decides the plants: drought-tolerant ones for a south or west-facing front garden, shade-tolerant ones for a north-facing one.