Pruning help

This is always a bit of a mystery to me...and perhaps I can get some specific tips from you guys.

#1 - Variegated red twig dogwood (Cornus alba). I have done a very bad job of pruning this in the past and am wondering if I should just try a drastic cut it all to the ground and then leave it alone for a couple of years (other than dead or crossed branches)? As it is, it has a real awkward shape, with some new growth from the bottom, and some new growth midway up. I've had it for awhile and it seems to be very healthy. I think I just got off to a bad start with a lousy prune job. Any thoughts? Wish I had a camera to give a visual.

#2 - Jasmine (Jasminum stephanense). How to prune this? This is about 6 years old, struggled to get established, but last year finally took off well. It is growing on a trellis and is currently just a big tangle, probably 7' tall. Should I leave it alone and just prune to keep it shapely, cut it back, or...??

Thanks as always.

There's a little bit of information re pruning available at these links:

http://www.rainyside.com/features/plant_gallery/vines/Jasminum_stephanense.html

http://www.finegardening.com/plantguide/cornus-alba-elegantissima-red-twig-dogwood.aspx

Thanks, Katie, I'll see what they say.

You can take your red twig dogwood all the way to the ground. Makes for a nicely shaped, very red bush.

Bonehead, I am in the same boat as you when it comes to the RT dogwood. Have learned the hard way that the new growth is pretty, the older stuff not so much, and it grows like crazy. I cut mine down to threeish feet last year, and it grew at least another three, with the bottom being not really attractive during the winter. This year it is getting chopped down to about one and a half feet and we'll see how that goes. It really has a "not so attractive" garden form if you let it do it's own thing. I have some wild dogwood that seem very similar (red new growth, similar flowers, similar growth habits) that are 20 foot tall, and I am afraid my garden one is aspiring to head that direction....

I'm waiting for the Jasminium stephanense. I planted one last year. It is struggling along so some day I will need to prune it.

I can tell you what I do with my Jasminium stephanense, but the reason that I didn't post before is I don't know what I'm doing, I'm just whacking it back to try to keep it from pulling the gutters off of my house! You would never have known that mine was there the first couple of years (it is planted with clematis Jackmanii), but when it took off, it took OFF! I prune it back to the shape I want it in...... just cut back to a leaf node to keep it in check and going the right direction, and allow me to see out of my bedroom window. It appears to delight in this type of pruning, because it flowers well for me and just keeps growing....

Key word: flowers. I have had a supposedly winter flowering jasmine for years outside my family room window. It has never flowered once regardless of what I do. I am about to rip it out. I hope the J. stephanense does better. It's climbing into a shrubby oak tree.

Hey, Melissa - before you pull it out have you thought about giving it a shot of hormones? My SIL used to put birth control pills into her African Violets to induce flowering - or at least she said she did.

You know, I have not heard of that before! Tell me more! I don't think I have any unused birth control pills around here (roflol) but I am certainly open to new ideas and I would really like this thing to bloom, if it's still alive, that is (which is questionable after that november freeze). Was it the estrogen or the progestin??

Good question - I always thought it was the estrogen. I know that's an animal hormone, rather than a plant hormone, but she swore it worked. I can't readily find anything online, but I'll keep looking.

LOL about the hormone pills. That's just too funny! I haven't had those around for a long time, but I do have a local form of estrogen - but I'm not willing to share with my plants!

My SIL's a nurse, my bro is a family doc. In those days (early 80's) they had lots of expired sample packs laying around . . .

Maybe of you feed them to the moles and voles.......

heh heh. Good idea.

Oh, if only!
Okay, I have now spent toooo much time on this computer tonight. I am in serious trouble here! I already spend too many hours on this computer! Bad girl! Bad! bad!