Hedge Trimming in Monbulk

Hedge Trimming in Monbulk: Local Conditions

Outside of the windbreak hedges covered elsewhere, Monbulk has a distinct category of ornamental and screening hedge that we work on repeatedly: the mature photinia robusta, lilly pilly and pittosporum tenuifolium screens that owners planted in the late 1990s and early 2000s as fast-growing boundary treatments. Many of these are now four to five metres tall and have developed thick, woody frameworks that respond poorly to improper cutting. We use petrol-powered extended-reach hedgetrimmers on the tall faces and a step platform for the top cap, taking no more than one-third of the current season's growth in a single pass to avoid die-back into the brown wood underneath. Monbulk's elevation, roughly 430 metres at the township, means the growing season for hedges runs about three weeks later than Knox or Casey. The practical consequence is that a Monbulk hedge cut in late October is cutting into fresh growth; the same timing in Belgrave or Ferny Creek would be cutting into hardened growth. We time the primary structural cut in late November once the spring flush has fully extended and the wood has firmed, and the light tidy-up in late February before the season's second flush. Formal box (Buxus sempervirens) hedges, which are less common here than in Olinda or Sassafras but still appear on some of the older nursery-owner properties, get a slower, more precise pass with hand shears on the corners to hold the sharp geometric lines the owners want. All clippings are blown clear and removed, and cut surfaces on photinia are treated where brown rot risk is elevated from moisture.

Working in Monbulk