Hello, I moved into a house that has several arborvitae surrounding it. I'm not sure of the technical terms, but I have a combination of evergreens that I believe are arborvitae. A few are short/squatty, some look more like hedges and others are relatively thin and tall ("thin" being ~4-6ft in diameter and "tall" being that it extends above the roof of my 2-story house).
The shorter versions are getting too round and the snowfall weighs heavily on them to the point that they are disfigured. The hedges are lush on top, but are up to 5ft high and look terrible underneath the top layer. The tall ones definitely need trimmed so the branches are off the roof, but I was wondering if I could prune them down several feet to all them to regrow, or at least be easier to maintain. I guess we also have a few 6ft plants that have nice tops, but they look like they've lost the bottom have of themselves.
Can I prune these back and reinitiate growth?
If so, when should I do it? We're located in Western New York, so we have long winters with lots of snow. We should be heading into Fall by October, so should I do something this year or wait until next Spring?
I just want them to get under control so that I can enjoy them.
Thank you, Dave