this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2026
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Gardening

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[–] SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world 11 points 3 weeks ago

A general rule of thumb to not stress a plant is to not remove more than 30% of its canopy or mass while trimming or pruning. So depending on how much you want to cut them back and reshape, it could be a multi year project.

[–] monketman82@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

They look like conifers, you should only trim them a bit at a time over several months.

Maybe just round them off at the minute then see what they look like in the future.

Go too deep, too far, and that section will die off never to regrow.

[–] Slatlun@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 weeks ago

Monketman has it right. If you don't want bare spots, cut carefully.

[–] robsteranium@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah if you have a look they're probably hollow inside. If you prune the outer branches back you'll reveal holes into the brown, dry interior.

[–] humble_boatsman@sh.itjust.works 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Yep. All the way to the stump. And then get a chain and pull the stump out of the ground. Then burn it in afire. Fuck Hake.

[–] kurikai@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

then get plants that are sized correctly. and dont plant them so close

[–] jmill@lemmy.zip 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Those look like a some kind of arborvitae. They can be trimmed back, but not too far at once. If you part the branches you'll see the greenery is only on the outside of the bush, the inside is bare branches. You can not trim back to the bare branches, they can not sprout fresh foliage there.

I just had to cut down some giant arborvitae in the house we moved into. They had been allowed to grow way too large for the space where they were planted and trimming them back to the needed space would have eliminated nearly all the greenery.

[–] breakfastmtn@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 weeks ago

You kind of have to cut them back. They're obstructing the garage and the walking path to the door.

I would cut them back beyond the bed edge so they're not obstructions. You may need to use loppers. Remove equivalent amounts from around it to keep it from being lopsided. Round it again with shears.

I would also bring them down to below the windows before rounding. Do those first then match the height on the garage blocking one if you want them to look the same.

[–] TIEPilot@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

Trim what you need out of the way and like @SchmidtGenetics says never go too deep

Don't freak out when you start trimming and baby rabbits bolt out. I have never trimmed one without a bunny parade in the spring/summer months.