You can maintain a hedge beautifully with surprisingly few tools — if they're the right ones. This is the working shortlist for 2026, built around what professional crews reach for. (We don't sell any of this and earn nothing from it; it's simply what works.)
Battery hedge trimmers — the category that won
Gas is over for residential hedging: modern battery trimmers cut just as well with none of the noise, fumes, or starting ritual. For homeowner use, the strong picks are the EGO Power+ 26" (huge cut capacity, forgiving), Stihl's HSA battery line (the crew favorite for balance and blade quality), and Makita's 40V XGT trimmers if you're already in their battery ecosystem. Buy whichever matches batteries you own; all three cut a residential hedge without breaking a sweat.
For tall hedges
A pole hedge trimmer with an articulating head — Stihl and EGO both make excellent ones — turns a 10-foot face and top into a from-the-ground job. Past 12 feet, stop: tall-hedge work from ladders is how homeowners get hurt, and it's exactly what a monthly care crew is for.
Hand tools that matter
One pair of quality bypass shears (Okatsune 231 is the cult classic; ARS and Berger equally respected) for the detail passes power tools can't make. Felco or Corona bypass pruners for individual branches. A string line and two stakes — the humblest tool on this list and the difference between straight and almost-straight.
Or skip the garage entirely
Our monthly hedge care add-on puts a vetted local crew on your line — shearing, feeding, irrigation checks — priced from your footage, cancel anytime. The tools stay theirs.
Put it to work
Draw your hedge line on a satellite view of your property and get one fixed installation price in about two minutes.
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