Severely Hacked Hedgerow .. how long to look decent again?

piratess

Our local council decided to come and cut our wonderful hedging out the front ..

we have Laurel, Holly, amongst others .. this hedge was 15ft high and has been taken to around 3ft .. it looks so baron! ..

How long will it take to grow back to at least look respectable! at the moment it looks bare .. no leaves or anything we just have stumps! ..

thanks for any ideas advice! ..

xx

Suzy_M

Was it your hedge they cut or a 'council' hedge?

piratess

A council hedge ... but we have opened up a dispute about it which is ongoing .. It stands infront of a small row of 3 houses ...

anyway ... will it grow back of have they ruined it forever ?

Suzy_M

I'm assuming this was a hedge and not a hedgerow -

Survival will depend on the species and how low it has been cut. At this time of year it will look bare so give it a couple of weeks after the weather warms up. Laurel will survive practically all types of abuse (see threads on getting rid of it!).

It will probably all grow back but how well will depend on whether the council pruned it or just hacked it off at a given height. If hacked it will probably grow back very untidily with surplus side shoots from the cut branches growing all over the place - and probably over paths etc.

You might be able to salvage its' appearance by doing a little more pruning yourself once the spring growth starts, using something like Arbrex? to inhibit growth from the cut branches, thinning the new shoots and cutting out any shoots that are likely to be in the wrong place when fully grown. Get yourself a book on shrubs and tree pruning from the library to find out how to correctly prune each type of shrub.

At least the council didn't cut it during the nesting season. - Our laurels never get pruned at the right time because of the brids nesting.

piratess

We have a dispute running at the moment with the council as we were informed! .. they did say they had sent somone round in the summer to ask our opinions but funnily noone came! .. the two house either side of ours is private and they are also devasted by this and it will have also effected the value of their homes due to us now over looking the main village road! ..

I cannot believe the council just didnt take it to 6-8ft to ensure we kept our privacy! ... Gggrrrr it makes me so mad! , I know this is the councils hedge but just goes to show they dont give a stuff! ...
We have or did have Bats Birds and Squirrels to the front which we loved to watch and welcomed into our gardens poor things all have to find elswhere to go now! ..
Our local councillor agrees with us tho on the way this has been done so maybe we will see the planting of new shrubs etc ..? .. who knows ..
but we now have a 2 ft drop from our side onto the road! into a ditch but yet the council dont see this as a health and safety issue as regards to my children going out into the road or somone falling off the edge ! ggrrr

sorry to babble! .. And thanks for you advice

Suzy_M

With a ditch on one side - was it a hedge or a hedgerow? If you are not sure have they cut any more hedges in the area - particularly on field boundaries?

piratess

umm .. ok thick here whats the difference? ...

it was a hedge made up of Laurel, holly hawthorn, rhodedendrons and blackberrys .....

They have cut anymore that i have seen as yet but aparently it was cut because it was touching electric cables! I agree yes trim it to around 6-8ft but not to the height it is now! ... they also said it had to be a maintanable height! ...
It is inbetween our houses and the main village road which is part of the New Forest ... i have some photos added so you can see

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r186/pixiepiratess/CIMG0220.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r186/pixiepiratess/CIMG0220.jpg

Suzy_M

Just realised you've got hedgerow in the title. Ho hum anyway -

Hedges - Formally planted and maintained and usually just the one species. Can be quite 'barren' - i.e. you've got the base shrubs and nothing else under or near.

Hedgerows - originally planted and maintained as livestock barriers on field edges. These used to be maintained by 'hedgelaying', not cutting. There's some clips of this on youtube. But councils being councils they go for the cheapest hacking down method - and hedgelaying is a dying art.

With the species you've listed and the picture I think it was originally a hedgerow, though very overgrown. The laurel is a little puzzling as it's not a traditional hedgerow species, neither is rhodedendron but given your location I can see why this is there.

A properly laid hedge is a real haven for nature supporting all sorts of different animal and plant species - I think they call them nature's highways. You can also date a hedgerow by the number of plant species in it. - If you are interested in nature hedgerows are very interesting.

Good news is it should grow back again though there might be one or two casualties.

If you want to stop this happening again you may have to take over it's maintenance. If you want it maintained as a hedgerow I suggest you contact your local wildlife trust who may come out and give you a proper on-the-spot assessment and conservation volunteers may be able to help you get it re-established.

Primrose

the trouble with laurel especially is that once it starts growing, it can grow quickly and can rapidly reach an anti-social height for other neighbours around in terms of cutting out light/sunlight. However, I think you'll find that once the growing season starts again new shoots will start sprouting fairly quickly, and in the long term, cutting the hedge back strengthen it and make it grow most robustly.

piratess

Thankfully this laurel/holly hedge only effects 4 homes and we all want it back lol so it growing fast is somthing that we really want to happen! ....

thanks for he replies xx

Lorian

It will probably look fine by mid summer. I have similar hedging and always give it a hard cut back, usually late in the autumn.