This Is the Worst Time to Trim Your Hedges In Illinois

If you're a homeowner, you know the never-ending battle that is yard work.  Cleaning up leaves, trimming the bushes, picking up sticks, pulling weeds—it's a real struggle sometimes.

Lucky for me, my landlord takes care of the yard work.  Renting is a beautiful thing, just sayin'.  Here's the thing about him, though: he shows up at the right times.  He doesn't start super early in the morning or really late at night.  He's courteous.

Related: When You Should Stop Mowing Your Lawn In Illinois

There's one thing we don't have any more, but I did love about our front yard: Hedges.  They gave so much privacy around the house!

The ones in front of my apartment were starting to look pretty bad, nobody could keep up on them, so my landlord got them removed and replaced them with more beautiful landscaping.  Not sure if he knew when to actually trim the hedges, but we're about to find out today!

This Is the Worst Time to Trim Your Hedges In Illinois

Apparently, the worst time to trim your hedges is when they're pushing out new growth.  According to a plant expert, Monheim, it takes a lot of energy to grow these bad boys after a long winter in hibernation.  If you cut them way too soon, they could possibly struggle to grow back.

"it's critical to wait until the new growth hardens off before pruning trees or hedges. "This is when the plant is stable and won’t wilt after pruning. Young, new growth is photosynthesizing and building new parts of the plant" [msn]

Read More: Best Times To Mow Your Lawn This Summer In Illinois 

If you're planning on trimming your hedges this weekend, please wait until after 10AM.  Your neighbors would love to sleep in a little bit before hearing constant noise outside their window.  Snip away—the right way.  Let your hedges do their thing before you interrupt their growth!  Your shrubs will thank you later, trust me.