Robinia

[Bonkers Mad]

Hello 😊

Bit of background. I moved into my house 30 years ago. Right at the front was a horizontal stump where a tree had been cut down. Over the years the tree regrew into a beautiful robinia. About 10 years ago the trunk split during high winds and it had to be cut down again. Over the last 10 years the tenacious bugger has regrown from the original stump but all over this time and has become more of a hedge, which i love. I keep the sides cut back from the pavement but cant reach the top even with a ladder so when my neighbours fella offered to do the top last week i accepted. Today i realised he was outside doing it but she had taken it upon herself to take loads of the middle out. I'm fuming tbh. The whole point of allowing it to grow like that was for privacy from the street. My question is, will those lower branches grow? Or will it eventually fill out with leaves again next year. The original stump is actually on concrete so i cant even plant something in the gaping hole it's left 😭

Edited August 31 by Bonkers Mad

[Amarus]

Robina spreads mainly through suckering from the roots and extremely rarely from seeds. Sowing pieces of roots or destumping and ripping the existing roots with a subsoiler are practised by commercial Robinia growers on the continent.

If you feel adventurous, you could try shaking up the roots around the stem to see what comes up to bolster your hedge.