Need pruning advice please!

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kellydz Galesburg, MI(Zone 6a) Mar 02, 2011

This burning bush is huge. I would guess about 9 ft? It is located right next to our driveway and impedes the view when trying to back out into the road. I would like to maintain a nice rounded shape around 6 feet tall. But the little I know about pruning (and it is very little) says that just hacking off the top 3 feet isn't correct. So how might I go about getting it whittled down to a more manageable size? And when is the best time for this shrub? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

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wha Pepperell, MA(Zone 6a) Mar 03, 2011

burning bushes are tough shrubs - you can "hack" it down to the ground and it will come back. if you want it to be 6' then cut it back to 4' and keep it trimmed. you can trim it now or wait a month.

others might do this differently. all of mine are "wild" ones and very invassive so i do not treat them with kid gloves.

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kellydz Galesburg, MI(Zone 6a) Mar 03, 2011

Thanks for the feedback. I think we are going to go for it and do a major chop in the next few weeks. Glad to hear they are tough. Makes me more confident to thin it out a lot and not worry about killing it.

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Weerobin Saint Louis, MO(Zone 6a) Mar 04, 2011

I have seen some beautifully pruned burning bushes - at the National Arboretum in Wash, D.C., I think.
The internal branches were thinned out, rather than the typical buzz-cut method.
I was amazed at the beautiful internal branching structure exposed by the pruning.
I had never liked the meatball-pruning so commonly employed on burning bushes.
Yours has sufficient size that it could be made into a nicely sculpted shrub.
But won't work, if you need it to be entirely shorter.
But if a 'see-through' result is acceptable in it's current situation, might turn out nice.
But I agree w/ wha, you don't need to be too careful,
because they are very forgiving and will soon rejuvenate to cover up any pruning boo-boos.

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kellydz Galesburg, MI(Zone 6a) Mar 04, 2011

I was reading about your idea last night and I think I will start out with some thinning out first and see what I get before lopping off height. It should be interesting to see what I get because as you can see from the photo, it is very overgrown and taking out some internal branches could really do some good. If only all pruning tasks this fall (this house has tons of shrubs, dwarf trees and perennials) were as foolproof!

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Weerobin Saint Louis, MO(Zone 6a) Mar 05, 2011

Be sure to post pictures of the results!

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