# Got a bit overzealous trimming my Cedar hedges, how do I fix my mistake?



## snowracer21

Stupidity alert: try not to cringe too badly at my actions...

I purchased my first home, located in NW Washington state, situated on 1 acre. The south side of my property is lined with two rows of Cedar trees meant for privacy/hedge.

I treated myself to a new Milwaukee chainsaw and some Fiskar loppers & pole saw just as COVID shutdowns were ramping up. As such, I had too much time on my hands and decided my row of Cedar trees were way too overgrown.

A few hours/beers later, and my row of Cedars looked like this:



My intentions/thoughts were, if I trim all the overgrown branches back to the trunk, It'll prevent moss buildup in the lawn (which I had treated with Moss-Out), and the lawn will grow nicely up to the property line. I assumed (wrongly) that the lower branches would grown back in a few years resulting in a much cleaner look. After doing some reading, I realized the branches will never grow back, and now I'm left with a row of Cedars that are bare from the ground to about 10' up.

So, my question is: what is the best route I should take to regain some of the privacy the Cedars provided while still maintaining a clean landscaping look?


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## Butter

About the only thing you could do is plant a new row in front of those. You could plant the same thing or you could plant something that will get 8-10' tall to fill the gap.


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## nofearengineer

Cedar makes great firewood. 

Me personally, I'd cut the bad row down and plant a new row.


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## uts

If I were you, I would plant some arborvitae like emerald green. They dont go too high and give a nice formal look. They top out at a decent height. So you will get a layered look.


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## Delmarva Keith

Schip laurel or a dense mid-height holly between each cedar may do the trick.


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## Lust4Lawn

Delmarva Keith said:


> Schip laurel or a dense mid-height holly between each cedar may do the trick.


This was my thought as well. You could add some other species in if you wanted to naturalize the border too if you wanted to go that route.


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