Japanese Hollies Masacared - Ask Extension
A month ago, I hired a company to prune the top third of my Japanese Hollies. I came home to find that had cut two thirds from the top. They look horr...
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Japanese Hollies Masacared #864908
Asked April 17, 2024, 4:48 PM EDT
A month ago, I hired a company to prune the top third of my Japanese Hollies. I came home to find that had cut two thirds from the top. They look horrible. The front facing branches were not cut. The bushes are healthy and there is new growth. My question is should the front facing limbs be cut back?
Prince George's County Maryland
Expert Response
In short, maybe...it depends on how long you want to wait for regrowth and how well the plants start responding to the prune by putting out new leaves. You can trim them off, but will be left with bare, twiggy shrubs for awhile. (It's hard to guess how long.)
Chinese Holly (Ilex cornuta, the type pictured, since Japanese Holly, Ilex crenata, looks much more like boxwood) fortunately tends to respond to pruning well, even when drastic. If the plants' root systems are healthy enough, we expect they will regrow, though it might take more than a year to regain a pleasing shape and density. Miscommunication about the trimming height aside, the worker(s) did not prune well in terms of technique. They did not place pruning cuts in a logical manner, and the tool(s) used also seem to have been insufficient for some of the thicker branches, either needing sharpening (so cuts are clean and not jagged) or choosing a more suitable tool that can handle thicker wood (so it doesn't split, as some seem to have done here).
In general, hedging shrubs with shears, or using any pruning technique or tool to make them very even-sided and dense-leaved, can hamper regrowth and risk long-term plant health. When shrubs are sheared (cutting across all branch tips evenly, as they appear to have been before this incident), the resulting regrowth forms a denser outer layer of foliage. Although nice to look at, this crowding not only allows creates conditions conducive to plant disease and pest population rise, but it also shades the shrub's interior more thoroughly. This shading prompts an acceleration of what is a natural process as the plant ages, which is the shedding of its oldest or most-shaded foliage. Older leaves are on the lower and inner branches, and as they receive less light, they are of no use to the plant, costing more in energy to maintain than the plant is getting out of their photosynthesis, so they die and drop off. This means that, as seen here, heavier-than-normal pruning will reveal a very bare and twiggy interior, and even though regrowth can hide it again over time, only light reaching those inner branch surfaces will stimulate them into growth again that can fill in more evenly.
Instead of shearing, it's recommended that shrubs that a gardener wishes to shape more formally be trimmed by cutting back individual branches (as needed) to maintain a desired shape. Ideally, pruning should not be used to significantly reduce a plant's size, since it puts more stress on a plant and may predispose it to pest or disease problems. If a shrub won't fit well into a designated space without regular trimming, a more compact-growing variety should be used instead. We mention this because most Chinese Holly varieties mature in the 5 to 8 foot (or greater) height and width range, and this location looks very cramped for them in terms of room for growth, at least not without blocking more window space and overhanging a walkway. If you didn't want to wait for these shrubs to recover, this might be a good opportunity to replant with another variety or evergreen species that will fit into the space better with less regular maintenance, including so they stay under the windows. While no plant is without some degree of risk for a pest or disease issue, there may be several options to choose from depending on the space available and factors like summer sun exposure, soil drainage, and the risk of deer browsing. Plants that are more dwarf will take longer to reach the desired height, but overall they will require less intervention to keep them within the bounds of limited space.
Miri
Chinese Holly (Ilex cornuta, the type pictured, since Japanese Holly, Ilex crenata, looks much more like boxwood) fortunately tends to respond to pruning well, even when drastic. If the plants' root systems are healthy enough, we expect they will regrow, though it might take more than a year to regain a pleasing shape and density. Miscommunication about the trimming height aside, the worker(s) did not prune well in terms of technique. They did not place pruning cuts in a logical manner, and the tool(s) used also seem to have been insufficient for some of the thicker branches, either needing sharpening (so cuts are clean and not jagged) or choosing a more suitable tool that can handle thicker wood (so it doesn't split, as some seem to have done here).
In general, hedging shrubs with shears, or using any pruning technique or tool to make them very even-sided and dense-leaved, can hamper regrowth and risk long-term plant health. When shrubs are sheared (cutting across all branch tips evenly, as they appear to have been before this incident), the resulting regrowth forms a denser outer layer of foliage. Although nice to look at, this crowding not only allows creates conditions conducive to plant disease and pest population rise, but it also shades the shrub's interior more thoroughly. This shading prompts an acceleration of what is a natural process as the plant ages, which is the shedding of its oldest or most-shaded foliage. Older leaves are on the lower and inner branches, and as they receive less light, they are of no use to the plant, costing more in energy to maintain than the plant is getting out of their photosynthesis, so they die and drop off. This means that, as seen here, heavier-than-normal pruning will reveal a very bare and twiggy interior, and even though regrowth can hide it again over time, only light reaching those inner branch surfaces will stimulate them into growth again that can fill in more evenly.
Instead of shearing, it's recommended that shrubs that a gardener wishes to shape more formally be trimmed by cutting back individual branches (as needed) to maintain a desired shape. Ideally, pruning should not be used to significantly reduce a plant's size, since it puts more stress on a plant and may predispose it to pest or disease problems. If a shrub won't fit well into a designated space without regular trimming, a more compact-growing variety should be used instead. We mention this because most Chinese Holly varieties mature in the 5 to 8 foot (or greater) height and width range, and this location looks very cramped for them in terms of room for growth, at least not without blocking more window space and overhanging a walkway. If you didn't want to wait for these shrubs to recover, this might be a good opportunity to replant with another variety or evergreen species that will fit into the space better with less regular maintenance, including so they stay under the windows. While no plant is without some degree of risk for a pest or disease issue, there may be several options to choose from depending on the space available and factors like summer sun exposure, soil drainage, and the risk of deer browsing. Plants that are more dwarf will take longer to reach the desired height, but overall they will require less intervention to keep them within the bounds of limited space.
Miri
