Solved Looking for help identifying these hedges!

Hi,

I have recently bought my first property which includes a lovely garden, but one that has not recieved much attention. I am excited to make a start on tidying it up this spring and want to start with the hedges. I am unable to identify the two hedging plants used - so am not sure when and how best to prune. Can anyone help?

Hedge 1
Below is a general picture of the hedge and a close up of the leaves. Can anyone identify it?



This hedge is at the front of the property and while it was neatly trimmed by the previous owner you will notice that it encroaches on the footpath outside our house and ideally we would like to cut it back by a foot or so and make it straighter. However I don't want to kill it or leave it looking patchy - how can I go about this?



Hedge 2
Again I have provided a general view and close up of the foliage to help with identification.



This hedge has been allowed to grow up extremely high and has consequently become very patchy. I want to cut off the top (not sure what the best height to bring it to might be? Maybe 7-8 feet? But I would also like to encourage it to become bushier and fill in some of the gaps. It is particularly sparse lower down (it was, until two week's ago, in shadow due to foliage in the neighbouring garden which has recently been removed) and I would appreciate any suggestions on how to improve this.

I thank anyone in advance for any help you can offer!

 

Welcome to the forum @greenasthegrass .

Please don`t cut the hedges at all at this time of year. The birds are nesting and really shouldn`t be disturbed. There must be lots of other jobs you could do first.
Not only that it will give you time to see how your hedges behave so we can get a better idea of how to deal with them - a little bit later on

 

Actually, looking again at your photos, the first hedge looks like Escallonia to me.

 

Thanks for your message - and for the welcome!

The other wonderful thing about the garden is that it is visited by lots of birds - some nesting in a large bay tree - I haven't noticed if any are nesting in the hedge - but this is a good point!

There are all sorts of jobs I could get on with - its rather difficult to know where to begin to be honest!

 

I have just looked up Escallonia - it appears to be a flowering shrub - and this hedge does not flower (we first viewed the property in spring last year and visited throughout the summer before moving in in September so I have now seen the hedge throughout an entire year (just about).

 

Escallonia flowers from about June to October, and there are several varieties.

When sorting out a new garden, in my humble opinion, it is best to live with what is there for the first year, just keeping it tidy (ish) That way you can assess what you have inherited before you make decisions. Many a special plant has been disposed of because of impatience. You might find a few treasures just waiting to surprise you.

Edit..... Maybe the previous owner kept the hedge a bit too neat and tidy, and cut it wrongly - losing the flowers

 

Yes perhaps I'm being rather impatient... It's just that with the promise of more sun i'm keen to get out there more.... I suppose the grass could do with a trim to begin with!

 

.... and I daresay there will be one or two thousand weeds to pull out (only the ones you recognise of course) Yes, now is the time for mowing alright:cheerup: every five days here at the moment it`s growing like crazy.

 

Haha - right well the weekend plan is sorted... a general tidy up. Wonder if anyone will be able to help me identify the hedges?

 

It looks like privet to me ?.

 

@greenasthe to GC and nice to have you with us

I've been looking at pictures of Escallonia and i have to agree with @Tetters it looks like one to me and just been reading about them also and if they cut back to often it can delay flowering and you mentioned... it was neatly trimmed by the previous owner

 

Martin i thought that also but look at Escallonia the leaves look identical also

 

My opinion is one is golden privet and two is privet but what do i know .

 

Martin just looked at Golden privet and the leaves are a different shape but i think your smack on with the 2nd being privet