FEATURESTORY
by Mike McGroarty
Canadian Hemlock for Landscapes
The Canadian Hemlock is one of my all time fa-
vorite upright evergreens. I use them in many of the
landscapes that I do, including my own. They grow
nice and full but are still easy to maintain at just about
any given height you choose.
In a landscape planting I like to keep them at
a height of about 6-1/2, maybe 7�. This is just tall
enough that I can trim the tree without the use of a
ladder. I frequently use the Canadian Hemlocks on a
corner then accent the evergreen Hemlock with the
brilliant yellow Gold Thread Cypress. But don’t over
use the Gold Thread. Three around the front of the
bed is good, then use another evergreen around the
back of the bed. Something like Taxus Sebian, Taxus
Densiformis or even Blue Girl Holly. Using the ad-
ditional evergreens around the back of the Hemlock
also provides an evergreen back drop for the Gold
thread from different angles and really makes them
stand out, but still not over the top with the yellow
color.
How to Trim Canadian Hemlock
When I trim Canadian Hemlock I use regular,
manual hedge shears and all I do is tighten it up. Each
time that I trim it, it gets a little tighter and eventually,
over a period of years it gets so tight you can’t even
get your fi st inside of the plant. As a side note, I trim
Rhododendrons the same way and they get just as
tight! Nice and full.
Left untrimmed the Canadian Hemlock looks
great for the fi rst year or so, but what happens is the
same thing that happens with all plants that are left
un-pruned. When you leave a plant un-pruned the
following year it fl ushes out with new growth in the
spring just like it’s supposed to. But all of that growth
is on the ends of the branches that should have been
trimmed off the year before. Many people don’t realize
what’s happening, don’t really know how to correct it,
and before long the plants in their landscape look ter-
rible. I’ve seen it happen time and time again.
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August 2017