Conifer advice needed

Apparently, native isn't so needful, as long as wildlife likes it. :-D

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/design/plant_recipes/wildlife_index.shtml

Doggie - I know the tops can be lopped off as we did that with the ones in the hedge - took them down by about half but its the cutting back around the sides that is the problem as they need to be cut right back at the sides as well and this seems to be a no-no.

Hi Kat

Sometimes it depends on the conifer variety to an extent, but it the bottoms and sides are all brown, they will stay all brown if you trim them back.

There is nothing to stop you trimming the whole conifer into a better shape though. It is just unlikely to grow new green shoots from where it is all brown.

You could leave the ivy or have additional honeysuckle grow into it as Sparrow has. :-)

If they're fouling the steps, have them out I say and put in natives or roses - much more fun. You still have the ones at the back for small birds - also goldcrests like 'em. You can have the best of both worlds then without upsetting any little feathered fiends. We've inherited one conifer in this garden and it seems relatively well-behaved so far. Hope a goldcrest likes it, such sweet little birds.Of course I don't know what predecessors did in the way of pruning but I do know that once you're into the dead bits as everyone says, they won't grow back in the obliging way other things do. Spindles and rowans are well behaved and produce lovely berries for the birds!

Hi Kat,

something I do with a lot of my trees is 'raise the canopy' which means neatly cutting off all the lower branches which means you get light underneath, possibly more planting space (always a good thing as I just can't get enough) and it makes the whole area feel a lot less heavy and over grown. You can do that with any tree, and some shrubs look good like that too. The birds still get the top growth to hide and feed in and you get some light and space!

You could also selectively remove the ones that are really in the way, but if you want to re-plant the area with big things, you may need to dig out a lot of old roots and replace with fresh soil!

happy days...

DM

Hi DM - I don't think raising the canopy would work on these as most of the branches are coming out from low down on the tree and there isn't much coming out from further up the tree it mostly seems to be frm within a couple of feet or so of the base of the tree but I'll take a closer look and see if that would be possible, it depends if I can remove the branches that are growing over the steps.