Tree and Shrub Trimming in Hamilton

Usually, yes. Most deciduous shrubs take a hard renewal cut well, and if one has been let go for years we spread the work over two seasons so it never looks butchered. Cedars and junipers are the exception: they do not regrow from bare wood, so we trim them only to green and tell you honestly when one is past reshaping.

Late spring to midsummer, once the soft new growth has firmed up, and one trim a year keeps most hedges tidy. A fast privet or a formal boxwood might want a second light pass in late summer. We stop before fall so new growth is not caught by frost, and we keep the top a little narrower than the base so the lower branches stay green.

Trimming can tidy it, but it cannot turn brown wood green again, because cedars do not regrow from bare wood. Brown patches usually come from a dry summer, winter wind and sun, salt spray from the road or the driveway, or a cut taken back too far, while a little browning inside the hedge in early fall is only old foliage dropping, which is normal. We trim to the green, tell you honestly what will fill in and what will not, and can replace a cedar that is past saving.

Small ones, yes: Japanese maples, serviceberries, crabapples, dogwoods, dwarf fruit trees and similar, pruned for shape, air and dead wood from the ground or a ladder. A large shade tree, anything that needs climbing or a bucket truck, or any tree that has to come down is arborist work, and we will say so.

Hedges we can reach safely from the ground, a ladder or a platform, which covers most privacy hedges around a Hamilton yard. A very tall or very long cedar run we quote after a look. If a hedge has grown past what can be kept, we lower it over two seasons rather than in one cut.

Yes, with the neighbour's OK, because we need to stand on their side to reach it. A hedge on a shared lot line is worth a word with them first, and with their OK we trim both faces and the top on the same visit so the hedge is even all the way round.

No. We do not take down trees or grind tree stumps; that is a licensed arborist's job and we say so on the phone. What we do remove is a large bush or an overgrown shrub, stump and roots included, so a bed can be replanted. The overgrown shrubs and hedges page shows what that looks like.

Yes, and it is the best value way to do it. On the same visit we trim the hedge and shrubs, dig out anything past saving, pull the weeds by the root, cut a deep shovel edge and spread fresh mulch. One crew, one day, one clean-up. Tell us what you want kept and we work around it.

Yes, we plant hedges as well as trim them. For a solid screen we space cedars so they touch within a season or two, which depends on the size you buy and how soon you want privacy; we work that out at the quote. Planting high in our clay and watering deeply through the first summer matter most. Plants are billed at cost, with no markup.

It depends on how many plants, how big they are, how long since the last cut, the height and length of any hedge, and how much has to be hauled away. Stumps and bed resets add to it. There is no minimum, a single hedge is welcome, and the written quote is free.

Not always. A lot of trimming jobs can be quoted from a few photos sent by text or email, which is faster for you. When the yard has a lot going on, a tall hedge, or a bed reset to plan, we come out and walk it with you. Either way the quote is written, free, and lists each plant and what it gets.

No permit is needed to trim or prune a tree, hedge or shrub on your own lot, and that is the only work we do. Tree by-laws in Hamilton and the towns around it are about removing or injuring larger trees, which we do not take on; if a tree has to come out, an arborist will tell you whether a permit applies. A hedge on a shared lot line is simply worth a word with the neighbour first.