How to Shape Green Giant Evergreen Trees

Remove any dead branches from the Green Giant arborvitae, cutting them back to their point of origin on the main trunk or a junction with a lower living branch. Use bypass pruners to make the cut. Ridding the evergreen of dead tissues first allows you to better see the healthy foliage and determine what, if any, branches need trimming to shape the tree.

Stand 10 to 20 feet back from the arborvitae and view its symmetry and silhouette. View the plant from all sides, especially from areas in the garden or from the house that you always see the arborvitae. Look for any branches that spoil natural symmetry or create a lopsided or uneven silhouette that isn't a narrow tapering pyramid. These branches or areas of the tree warrant trimming to improve the plant's shape.

Trim back various branch tips across the entire Green Giant arborvitae, using a sturdy A-frame ladder to reach upper twigs. Use the bypass pruners to remove errant twigs to create a more perfectly shaped silhouette. Trim the branch tips by making the pruning cut -- called a heading-back cut -- 1/4 inch above a lower needled side twig.

Step back from the Green Giant every five to 10 cuts to again evaluate the symmetry of the arborvitae as you trim and shape it. It's better to make several cuts on branches, taking away small sections of tissues each time, rather than making large pruning cuts and removing too much foliage.

Maintain the general upright, narrowly tapering natural silhouette of the arborvitae. When looked at from the side, the Green Giant arborvitae must look like an A. Do not remove too many branch tips or make pruning cuts too far back to create a tree bottom that looks more like a U or V. The arborvitae's shape must always be tapered, with the widest part at the tree's base.