Severe pruning - diy or pro?

snips&snails · July 2010

We just moved into our house 1.5 years ago. It had sat vacant for several years. This, and just general non-care before that, have made the yard our own little wild kingdom, filled with overgrown plants/shrubs.

There is some *major* cutting back that needs to be done to several things, including boxwoods, lilac, forsythia and rhododendrons. I don't know a lot about gardening/landscaping (condo dweller before this), but is this something I could try to tackle with some research? Or am I better off getting a pro for something like this to get me back to a suitable "square one" of sorts?

tia!

Hey Jellisy · July 2010

With the exception of pruning trees, I think you can tackle this as a DIY. We bought a house this winter that had been vacant for a few years (owner was in a nursing home) and they had pros prune everything last fall before putting the house on the market. I think they just went about it with the idea that X size is what they wanted the bushes to be so X size they became. With the exception of 1 or two anemic azaleas everything did fine this spring.

elviebird · July 2010

Plants are a lot more resilient than you think. I've learned that you can pretty much hack any shrub to the ground and it comes back even better the next year. I would just look up the different species so you know what time of year to cut.

~NB~ · July 2010

I would hire somebody for any job where I thought they knew more than me.

Sadly, the overwhelming majority of landscape professionals don't know much about pruning. It is difficult to find someone who knows HOW and WHEN to prune all the various plants in any given zone.

CollegeGrrl219 · July 2010

I vote for DIY. If you're really scared, just do a few at first, see how they do, and then go for more later.

Severe pruning - diy or pro?

Re: Severe pruning - diy or pro?

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