There is one huge up-side to having twenty landscaping seasons under my belt: new experiences really stick out. Last year I collected enough new experiences to write a blog post about it and so far in 2019 there have been a few.
A new gig
Spring is incredibly busy and this year my neighbour referred me to a small 9 unit complex because the resident gardener was too busy to continue with the work. Great!
Hedges
The biggest projects were cedar hedge and tree pruning and I’ve done lots of both. We normally shear cedar hedges (Thuja occidentalis or Thuja plicata) tightly on top and gently on the sides so the hedge still looks nice and green.
Let’s take a look at two examples of my work.
This is all standard pruning with tight tops and sides that are still green and don’t sport any holes.
When musicians prune cedars
But what happens when musicians prune cedars? We get waves!
This was my first ever roller coaster cedar hedge pruning job. The resident musician who started it considers straight tops boring. Fair enough.
After I put the above picture on a Facebook group page, the reaction was positive. Why always give your cedar hedges a straight top? This is more playful and it was fun to do. I’m already looking forward to next year.
I am now in my twentieth landscape season and this was my first roller coaster hedge job. This shows how rare it is for artists to prune their cedar hedges and how much fun it is to collect new experiences. Life in the landscape is never dull.
