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Gardening in Canada

Evergreens planted too close together

10 years ago

Hi there!!!! I am a new home owner and new to gardening and landscaping so any and all feedback is greatly appreciated!!

The house I bought has a huge mature yard, however there is a row of evergreen trees across the front yard that I believe have been planted too close together. The other trees int he front of the yard have a hard time growing and look pretty weak so I'm wondering if it would be from these trees hogging everything??

I am wondering what I should do with these because they don't look real healthy and are starting to kill each other.

Thanks!

Featured Answer

IanW Zone 5 Ont. Can.

10 years ago

They are close, but looks like the previous owner planted them as a wind break maybe....
You could thin them out by cutting down the worse looking ones, but I would check to see if the ones left standing don't have bare spots or sides where the other one shaded their foliage.....

Comments (6)

Daisy199
Original Author
10 years ago
There will be some gaps left in the ones that don't get cut down. I'm assuming they won't fill in again?? It was suppose to be a hedge and looked good 15 years ago apparently but no one has looked after it and they were planted a foot appart.
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Thank you, Leslie! Stephen, I'm retired and most of my spare time is spent working in the garden. Not all ten acres is worked on. Some of it is left natural with a minimum of interference. Most of my work in the garden is maintenance even though I've tried to keep that to a minimum. I don't grow anything I would have to spray to keep it healthy. Nothing that self seeds to the point it's a pain. The only plant I shear is the Crocagator and I'm usually behind on that. I don't even grow any trees with large leaves I have to rake up. Small leaves are absorbed by the groundcovers or chewed up by the lawnmower. My lawn has been reduced to the size of the average living room. A certified arborist drops his chips off here and I use them as much as I have time for. My wheelbarrow has more miles on it than my truck and my tiller has more miles on it than my lawnmower. I am landscaping a new area of about 6000 sq. ft. and should have it done by this Fall. There's a lot of prep work involved consisting of stumps, old logs, roots, rocks, grade change, and blackberries. Water is available and the rock wall is finished. The work is going smoothly, albeit slower than I'd like. At 72, I'm slowing down a bit. That, and my wife keeps dragging me away on vacation. The work is fun and it keeps me young. If I had stayed behind a desk at Boeing, I'd be dead by now. Mike
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IanW Zone 5 Ont. Can.
10 years ago
Yes, new growth will not regenerate on the old growth and you will have dead areas.....the decision is up to you on how many to remove, to improve the look of your property....

This post was edited by ians_gardener on Thu, Jul 4, 13 at 22:43
ianna
10 years ago
The tree by the driveway looks awfully deprived of nutrients and water. In forest, the unhealthy trees eventually die out giving room to the healthier trees to take over the space. In our yards, I would suppose it's time to thin out the unhealthy trees. The only way is to chop them down to the roots and grind out the stump. It's roots would eventually die off. Don't dig them out as it would harm the remaining trees. The only way you'd be able to retain the privacy is to consider planting some more screening plants planted in a second row.
SouthCountryGuy Zone 4b-5 SE BC
10 years ago
HI Daisy,

Before doing anything I think I would consult with an arborist. You may have other options, like pruning and fertilization, instead of straight removal. If anything you will get some sound advice.

SCG
xcaret
10 years ago
I had a problem with a spuce tree that was acting as a privacy sceen, but died.. I planted a hop vine at the base and it grew all over the tree, only thing is I should have choosen a vine that doesn't have to grow from the ground up each year.. Some vines have stalks that come back to life . My hop stems stay dead , but do act as a great refuge for birds.. I don't remove the dead stalks. The tree is now giving way more privacy as it's covered in hops..Not quite as good in winter time..

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