Hedge trimmingin Glenmore Park

Street after street in Glenmore Park is lined with the same few hedges: murraya along the front fence, lilly pilly for privacy down the side, and a run of box or photinia beside the driveway. They all grow hard in spring and summer and look scruffy within a few weeks if they are left.

We trim with sharp hedgers to a clean line, keep the base slightly wider than the top so light reaches the bottom leaves, and finish with a tidy-up of every clipping on the ground, the lawn and the footpath. Tall screening hedges are done from platforms, not leaning ladders.

Murraya and lilly pilly in western Sydney push out two big flushes of growth, one in spring and one in late summer. Trimming just after each flush keeps them dense. A hard cut on a 40-degree afternoon burns the newly exposed leaves, so in summer we book hedges for the morning.

When and how often

Most hedges need two to four trims a year: after the spring flush in October or November, a light trim in late summer, and an optional tidy before Christmas.