When to clip, trim & prune hedges?

Winter and Summer

Winter is generally the best time to prune woody subjects and it certainly is the best time to trim the hedge plants you have just planted.

Hedges must be clipped and sometimes pruned. Fruit trees need some pruning to maintain the best crops. Older ornamental trees can need pruning if they are damaged or get in the way.

Why is winter usually the "best" time to prune and clip your hedge or tree?

During winter, pruning above ground will cut off the least energy from the plants.
The plant's sugary sap is stored underground, in the roots.

Mature hedges are good to trim in summer.
Mature hedges that flower are best trimmed after the flowers or seeds have fallen.

Beech and Hornbeam are clipped in summer to encourage them to keep their autumn leaves all winter.

Cherry fruit and flowering cherry trees are an exception, they should be pruned in summer to avoid the risk of disease, but that doesn't apply to the wild cherry species that are used for hedges.

But all hedges or other trees and fruit are best trimmed in winter. Dead, diseased or damaged branches should be removed as and when they appear.