Severe pruning on the Ilex Cornuta 'Carissa' hedge

One good way to improve a garden is addition by subtraction. Cold-bloooded gardeners undertake this process motivated by a superior sense of design and a ruthless nature. Most of us are pushed into it by circumstance...something like two blizzards in a week.

When we began to look closely at the hedge above the GCA (Garden Club of America) Circle we discovered that there was too much damage to solve the problem with a superficial pruning. The gap in the bottom picture shows how deeply we needed to go to remove split branches. The good news is....well, look what you can see when the hedge is lowered 2--3 fee! Soooo, we took a roughly 5+' high by 6' wide hedge and made it about 3' high and 2' wide. It looks horrible now but hey, its a Chinese Holly. It'll recover in no time. And so long as we can keep it more or less in bounds, walkers will have a nice view down the Central Valley.

Sometimes you get carried away in these proects; after looking at the hedge through new enlightened eyes, we decided to remove a couple of plants from the north end to permanently create a view of the area above the circle. It turned out to be a good mornings work.