On Wed, 23 Jun 2010 03:09:34 +0000, Lisa Leng
wrote:


My newly purchased house has two large (15') arborvitae trees in front
of a small front porch. They are so large they block out any light in
the front windows, and porch. A landscaper recommended removing them
and replacing with some boxwood. The trees are healthy, and I hate to
cut them down (not to mention the expense of hiring a landscaping
company.) Is there any way I can cut these back significantly (almost
by half)? Would it be ok to trim back a few feet a year? Or can these
trees be "topped" all at once to look more like a shrub? What would be
the best tool to use? Is it too late in the season to do anything this
year?(I live in North Eastern U.S.) This is my first house so I'm
totally new to this. Thank you so much for your help!

American arborvitae can be drastically pruned back and will recover
but can take years and will never attain its proper form... it'll live
but I doubt you will be happy with the result. I would remove them
and plant new... I would suggest globe arborvitae, or choose a compact
form juniper. There are literally hundreds of plantings that would
be suitable but without seeing a picture of your house and what kind
of space you have to work with it's difficult to suggest specifics.
Give your house a face lift, young compact foundation plantings make
an older house look newer. Often with older homes all the foundation
plantings are also old and over grown, it would be wise to remove all
and plant new... new plantings is one of the first improvements to
make when moving into an existing home, plants need time to grow...
new young shrubs are inexpensive, you only need invest a little labor.