CELEBRATING 28 YEARS! Welcome to My weekly series! THE LANDSCAPE PROFESSIONAL ASK Linda K. Lillie of Sprigs & Twigs Linda K Lillie has been President of Sprigs & Twigs, Inc. for the last 26 years. She is a graduate of Connecticut College in Botany, an accredited NOFA Organic Land Care Professional, a Connecticut Master Gardener and a national award winning landscape designer for her design and installation projects. Hi Linda, As you can see in my photo, these Dwarf Arborvitaes and are beginning to block daylight from the front windows. What are your thoughts of the tree surviving a single horizontal cut, perhaps removing the top half or top third of the tree. Would the remaining center eventually "fill in" with new green growth, essentially converting the tree to a lower growing shrub? - Mike Dear Mike, Topping your spruces with a single horizontal cut would be a very bad idea. It would look awful because the inside is all dead and it will not sprout new growth. Tree topping is exactly what it sounds like. It's when you cut the top of a tree off, which reduces the tree's remaining top branches to stumps. As a result, your tree is left with weak, unstable limbs and a bare, unnatural appearance. It would not fill in; in fact, it could very likely become infected with disease or fungus and kill the whole tree. "Dwarf" in plant language means the plant grows very, very, very slowly; not that they stay small. There are Dwarf Alberta Spruces over at Connecticut College 18-20' tall. Your only choice is to replace the Dwarf Alberta Spruce that you have with new, smaller ones. An alternative option may be to have them cut down/pulled out and replace them with a smaller, similar tree such as "Flip's Magic Moment," a miniature arbor vitae. These small shrubs top out at 6 to 8 feet tall and 1 to 3 feet wide, and are more easily trimmed than a spruce. If you need Sprigs & Twigs help, just give us a call. Good luck! Sprigs & Twigs WWW.SPRIGSANDTWIGS.NET 860-235-0752 EMAIL OR MAIL YOUR QUESTIONS TO: info@sprigsandtwigs.net or Linda Lillie, Sprigs & Twigs Inc, PO Box 245, Gales Ferry, CT 06335 "Flip's Magic Moment." a miniature arborvitae WE'RE GOING DIGITAL! SIGN UP USING THE QR CODE OR LINK BELOW! NEVER MISS A THING. ARTICLES SENT DIRECTLY TO YOUR EMAIL SO YOU CAN SAVE YOUR FAVORITES & SUBMIT YOUR QUESTIONS DIRECTLY. https://mailchi.mp/sprigsandtwigs/np-subscribe CELEBRATING 28 YEARS ! Welcome to My weekly series ! THE LANDSCAPE PROFESSIONAL ASK Linda K. Lillie of Sprigs & Twigs Linda K Lillie has been President of Sprigs & Twigs , Inc. for the last 26 years . She is a graduate of Connecticut College in Botany , an accredited NOFA Organic Land Care Professional , a Connecticut Master Gardener and a national award winning landscape designer for her design and installation projects . Hi Linda , As you can see in my photo , these Dwarf Arborvitaes and are beginning to block daylight from the front windows . What are your thoughts of the tree surviving a single horizontal cut , perhaps removing the top half or top third of the tree . Would the remaining center eventually " fill in " with new green growth , essentially converting the tree to a lower growing shrub ? - Mike Dear Mike , Topping your spruces with a single horizontal cut would be a very bad idea . It would look awful because the inside is all dead and it will not sprout new growth . Tree topping is exactly what it sounds like . It's when you cut the top of a tree off , which reduces the tree's remaining top branches to stumps . As a result , your tree is left with weak , unstable limbs and a bare , unnatural appearance . It would not fill in ; in fact , it could very likely become infected with disease or fungus and kill the whole tree . " Dwarf " in plant language means the plant grows very , very , very slowly ; not that they stay small . There are Dwarf Alberta Spruces over at Connecticut College 18-20 ' tall . Your only choice is to replace the Dwarf Alberta Spruce that you have with new , smaller ones . An alternative option may be to have them cut down / pulled out and replace them with a smaller , similar tree such as " Flip's Magic Moment , " a miniature arbor vitae . These small shrubs top out at 6 to 8 feet tall and 1 to 3 feet wide , and are more easily trimmed than a spruce . If you need Sprigs & Twigs help , just give us a call . Good luck ! Sprigs & Twigs WWW.SPRIGSANDTWIGS.NET 860-235-0752 EMAIL OR MAIL YOUR QUESTIONS TO : info@sprigsandtwigs.net or Linda Lillie , Sprigs & Twigs Inc , PO Box 245 , Gales Ferry , CT 06335 " Flip's Magic Moment . " a miniature arborvitae WE'RE GOING DIGITAL ! SIGN UP USING THE QR CODE OR LINK BELOW ! NEVER MISS A THING . ARTICLES SENT DIRECTLY TO YOUR EMAIL SO YOU CAN SAVE YOUR FAVORITES & SUBMIT YOUR QUESTIONS DIRECTLY . https://mailchi.mp/sprigsandtwigs/np-subscribe