But not Dave McPhee.
It is known to many arborists as "the deadliest hedge in Dunedin", because the 80m-long, 5m-high and 4m-wide row of macrocarpas sits on the edge of a 40m-high cliff in Musselburgh.
It has been growing in Alton Ave since about 1914, and Mr McPhee has been trimming it for nearly two decades.
In the days before health and safety standards were stepped up, he said working on the hedge was a bit like working in a minefield.
"It’s always been a very dicey hedge to touch, because in the early days we used to try to walk along the top.
"The difficulty was finding the branches that would support your weight.
"No-one got injured though. We were just a lot more careful. It would have killed you if you’d fallen."
He said those trimming the "Deadly Hedge" in those days, had a very healthy respect for it.
Now, at the age of 78, the former DM Holdings Ltd owner said the job of keeping it trimmed up was "quite a marathon", even for someone half his age.
So this year, he decided to "pass the saw" on to a much younger arborist, Manoa Buiniqio, at DM Holdings Ltd.
He has spent much of this week getting it to look shipshape again.
Mr McPhee said these days, arborists used a cherry picker with tracks on it, which was much safer.
"The guys are suspended right out above the top of the hedge.
"But we’ve still got to watch and be very careful, because if you get a windy day, the top of the cherry picker blows around quite a lot, and it’s possible for someone to fall off it, or tip the whole machine over."
"So it’s still probably the deadliest hedge in Dunedin. There’s no other one like it in the city," he said.
