← All guides · Renovation & recovery · Updated August 2026

Myth: a hedge gone woody and bare in the middle cannot recover. Most Thanet hedges can.

The conversation comes up every spring from Cliftonville CT9, Westgate-on-Sea CT8, and Ramsgate CT12: the hedge has grown out of control, the interior is woody and bare, and the homeowner has concluded it needs digging out and replanting. In a significant proportion of those cases, that conclusion is wrong. The hedge is not finished. The problem is that people are applying a rule that applies to one particular species to nearly every other type of hedge in Thanet gardens.

Where the myth comes from: leylandii

Leylandii (x Cupressocyparis leylandii) is genuinely unrecoverable once you cut past the green into the old brown wood. It does not regenerate from bare stems. Cut back hard to the brown interior and the exposed area stays bare permanently. This is a documented fact about the species, covered in detail in the leylandii hard-pruning myth article on this site, and it is well-established enough that most contractors and experienced gardeners know it.

The problem is that the leylandii rule has migrated in many people's minds into a general rule about hedges. It is not. Leylandii is one of a small group of conifers (Cupressus, Thuja, Chamaecyparis and their hybrids) that share this trait: they do not produce dormant buds in old wood and cannot throw regrowth from bare stems. That biology does not apply to the broadleaved hedges that make up the majority of Thanet gardens, nor to several other species commonly used for coastal hedging here.

The bare woody interior of an overgrown griselinia in Westgate-on-Sea or an escallonia in Cliftonville looks, visually, not unlike the bare brown wood of a leylandii that has been cut too hard. The appearance is similar. The underlying biology is different. One is dead. The other is dormant wood with viable buds waiting for a stimulus to break into growth.

The species that will genuinely renovate

RHS renovation guidance confirms that the following hedge species, all common in Thanet gardens, respond well to hard pruning, including reductions of up to 50 per cent in height and width in a single cut:

• Griselinia littoralis. The dominant salt-belt hedge species in Westgate-on-Sea CT8, Birchington CT7, and along the Margate CT9 and Broadstairs CT10 seafronts. Griselinia breaks freely from old wood, including thick stems that have not carried green growth in several years. Renovation cuts are most effective in mid-spring (April to May) once frost risk has passed.
• Escallonia. Common in the exposed coastal belt from Cliftonville CT9 to Ramsgate CT11/CT12. Like griselinia, it responds well to hard renovation in mid-spring. The old main stems will push lateral shoots within one growing season.
• Privet (Ligustrum ovalifolium). The most common hedge in Cliftonville CT9, Westgate-on-Sea CT8, and Ramsgate CT11. Privet can be cut to near-ground level and will re-shoot vigorously from the root crown. It is one of the most renovation-tolerant hedges in cultivation. Midwinter (November to February) is the standard timing for hard cuts on privet.
• Beech (Fagus sylvatica). Common in sheltered inland Thanet positions, including Minster, Sarre, and the more sheltered gardens of Broadstairs CT10 and Ramsgate CT12. Beech renovates well in midwinter while fully dormant. (Note: beech holds its dead leaves through winter, which can cause homeowners to confuse normal marcescence with dieback. The beech brown-leaves article covers this separately.)
• Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus). Similar to beech in renovation response and timing. Often used as an alternative in sheltered Thanet positions where beech scorch is a risk along the coast. Hard renovation in midwinter.
• Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna). Responds well even to very severe cuts. Excellent renovation candidate for older native boundary hedges around Minster and the Thanet rural fringe. Midwinter is standard timing.
• Holly (Ilex aquifolium). Slower to respond than the others but will push new growth from old wood. Renovation in mid-spring, after frost, is preferred for holly.
• Yew (Taxus baccata). Counter to what many people assume, yew is one of the most renovation-tolerant hedges in cultivation. It is the significant exception among conifers: unlike leylandii, yew does regenerate from old brown wood. Hard renovation can be done in mid-spring. An established yew hedge on Thanet chalk, with its deep root system, will produce new growth from the main stems within a single growing season after a hard cut, though full recovery takes longer than for broadleaved species.

The species that do not renovate well are most other conifers: leylandii, Thuja, Chamaecyparis (false cypress), and Cupressus. If the hedge in question is one of these, the realistic options are limited to reducing height while staying within the green zone, or removal and replanting. For everything else in the list above, renovation is a realistic option.

The stagger method: how renovation actually works

Cutting both sides back hard in the same season is the mistake that turns a recoverable renovation job into an unnecessarily slow recovery. It is not that the hedge cannot tolerate a hard cut: it usually can. It is that cutting all the foliage away at once removes the photosynthetic capacity the plant needs to support the root system while it regrows, and simultaneously exposes the root zone to drying conditions it was not dealing with before. The result is slower recovery and, on fast-draining Thanet chalk, a real risk of stress during the summer dry window.

The RHS renovation method is straightforward:

1. Year 1. Cut one side back hard, to within approximately 15cm (6 inches) of the main stems, or to the main stems themselves if the hedge has been significantly neglected. If height is also excessive, reduce the top at the same time. Leave the other side entirely alone.
2. Growing season. The cut side breaks into growth from dormant buds. The intact side continues to photosynthesise normally, supporting the root system through the recovery period. Apply a 7-10cm mulch layer along the base to retain soil moisture, keeping it clear of the main stems. On Thanet's Margate Chalk and Thanet Sand soils, which drain quickly, this matters most during June to August.
3. Year 2 (or year 3 for slow-responding species). Once the cut side is showing reasonable regrowth, typically after one to two growing seasons, cut the other side back to match. If recovery on the first side is slow, allow a further twelve months before tackling the second side.

This sequence applies to all the broadleaved species listed above. For yew, the same principle holds, though the gap between cutting the first and second sides should be extended to three years rather than two, given its slower regrowth rate.

What Thanet chalk does differently

An established hedge on Thanet's Margate Chalk Member and Thanet Sand geology has a deeper, more extensive root system than the same-sized hedge would develop on heavier clay soils further west in Kent. Chalk drains freely, which forces roots to follow moisture deeper into the subsoil. A fifteen-year-old griselinia hedge in Cliftonville or a mature privet in Westgate-on-Sea has a root volume capable of supporting hard renovation growth even when the above-ground framework has been cut back substantially.

This is one of the reasons renovation tends to go well on established Thanet hedges: the root system has not been suppressed by compaction or waterlogging, both of which are uncommon on chalk and Thanet Sand soils. The wood is old but the plant underneath is vigorous. The shock of a hard cut, managed with the stagger method and adequate mulching, is one the plant can absorb.

When a hedge genuinely does need to come out

Not every overgrown hedge is worth renovating, and saying so is part of an honest assessment. The practical threshold is roughly this: if the bare interior represents more than about two-thirds of the intended final width, and the species is a slow recoverer such as holly or yew, the timeline to a presentable hedge via renovation may be five years or more. In that situation, removing the hedge and replanting with two or three-year-old container-grown stock can produce a better result in the same timeframe.

The honest calculation is species, condition of the root system, width of the bare zone, and how long the homeowner is willing to wait. What it is not is a blanket assumption that bare wood means dead plant. That rule applies to leylandii and its close relatives. It does not apply to most of the hedges in Thanet gardens.

Sources: RHS, "Hedges: Renovation Techniques" (rhs.org.uk/plants/types/hedges/renovation); RHS, "Pruning Hedges: Expert Tips" (rhs.org.uk/plants/types/hedges/pruning-hedges); hedginguk.com, "Renovating an Overgrown Hedge"; Hopes Grove Nurseries, "Growth Rate of Yew Hedging"; Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, section 1.