Hello, could someone help please? I'm trying to improve the
appearance of a neglected but hopefully healthy viburnum. I've done
my best from the pics I've seen to identify it correctly as probably a
bodnantense or, less likely I think, a grandiflorum. Around 6 weeks
ago, at a height of possibly 10 feet or so, I started pruning off all
the top growth and cut out some of the longer, older branches at
ground level, removing probably about a third of the plant in one
bash. It seems to have taken happily to this but most of the new
growth is sprouting up again at the very top of the plant and this is
exactly what I'm trying to avoid. Please forgive my ignorance on
these matters, but I'm wondering if I can possibly set about the shrub
again (now!) to remove even more of this newly growing top stuff,
perhaps taking another foot or so of the old wood with it, with the
objective of getting some new growth around the middle height of the
plant. As things stand there is, as I say, a flourishing top and a
fair bit of leafy growth near the base but a bald middle. At this
stage I don't mind at all if whatever action is taken threatens the
flowering possibility for the next year or two, all I'm trying to do
is to give the plant, at this stage, a fuller leafy look.
Any thoughts would be most appreciated.

fumbler wrote:

Hello, could someone help please? I'm trying to improve the
appearance of a neglected but hopefully healthy viburnum. I've done
my best from the pics I've seen to identify it correctly as probably a
bodnantense or, less likely I think, a grandiflorum. Around 6 weeks
ago, at a height of possibly 10 feet or so, I started pruning off all
the top growth and cut out some of the longer, older branches at
ground level, removing probably about a third of the plant in one
bash. It seems to have taken happily to this but most of the new
growth is sprouting up again at the very top of the plant and this is
exactly what I'm trying to avoid. Please forgive my ignorance on
these matters, but I'm wondering if I can possibly set about the shrub
again (now!) to remove even more of this newly growing top stuff,
perhaps taking another foot or so of the old wood with it, with the
objective of getting some new growth around the middle height of the
plant. As things stand there is, as I say, a flourishing top and a
fair bit of leafy growth near the base but a bald middle. At this
stage I don't mind at all if whatever action is taken threatens the
flowering possibility for the next year or two, all I'm trying to do
is to give the plant, at this stage, a fuller leafy look.
Any thoughts would be most appreciated.

First of all when does it flower?

On Sat, 07 Jul 2007 23:29:57 +0100, Frank Booth Snr
wrote:

fumbler wrote:

Hello, could someone help please? I'm trying to improve the
appearance of a neglected but hopefully healthy viburnum. I've done
my best from the pics I've seen to identify it correctly as probably a
bodnantense or, less likely I think, a grandiflorum. Around 6 weeks
ago, at a height of possibly 10 feet or so, I started pruning off all
the top growth and cut out some of the longer, older branches at
ground level, removing probably about a third of the plant in one
bash. It seems to have taken happily to this but most of the new
growth is sprouting up again at the very top of the plant and this is
exactly what I'm trying to avoid. Please forgive my ignorance on
these matters, but I'm wondering if I can possibly set about the shrub
again (now!) to remove even more of this newly growing top stuff,
perhaps taking another foot or so of the old wood with it, with the
objective of getting some new growth around the middle height of the
plant. As things stand there is, as I say, a flourishing top and a
fair bit of leafy growth near the base but a bald middle. At this
stage I don't mind at all if whatever action is taken threatens the
flowering possibility for the next year or two, all I'm trying to do
is to give the plant, at this stage, a fuller leafy look.
Any thoughts would be most appreciated.

First of all when does it flower?

From late October through to January-Feb.

fumbler wrote:
Hello, could someone help please? I'm trying to improve the
appearance of a neglected but hopefully healthy viburnum. I've done
my best from the pics I've seen to identify it correctly as probably a
bodnantense or, less likely I think, a grandiflorum. Around 6 weeks
ago, at a height of possibly 10 feet or so, I started pruning off all
the top growth and cut out some of the longer, older branches at
ground level, removing probably about a third of the plant in one
bash. It seems to have taken happily to this but most of the new
growth is sprouting up again at the very top of the plant and this is
exactly what I'm trying to avoid. Please forgive my ignorance on
these matters, but I'm wondering if I can possibly set about the shrub
again (now!) to remove even more of this newly growing top stuff,
perhaps taking another foot or so of the old wood with it, with the
objective of getting some new growth around the middle height of the
plant. As things stand there is, as I say, a flourishing top and a
fair bit of leafy growth near the base but a bald middle. At this
stage I don't mind at all if whatever action is taken threatens the
flowering possibility for the next year or two, all I'm trying to do
is to give the plant, at this stage, a fuller leafy look.
Any thoughts would be most appreciated.

Viburnum Bodnantense tends to be less spreading in habit than
Grandiflora and also has a longer flowering period over the late autumn
winter months with a its main bloom in late winter. Otherwise both
shrubs are similar with rose pink buds and white/pink blooms.

It sounds like you only gave the new stems a light pruning. Normally you
don't bother pruning it. But if you do it's best to leave it when it
finishes flowering in late March then give it good prune, taking out all
of the old wood and cutting back the newer stems by about 1/2 their
length, additionally removing any overlapping or crowded stems to open
up the shrub a bit. If you prune now you will take out the flowering
buds as well.

On Sun, 08 Jul 2007 18:59:55 +0100, Frank Booth Snr
wrote:

Viburnum Bodnantense tends to be less spreading in habit than
Grandiflora and also has a longer flowering period over the late autumn
winter months with a its main bloom in late winter. Otherwise both
shrubs are similar with rose pink buds and white/pink blooms.

It sounds like you only gave the new stems a light pruning. Normally you
don't bother pruning it. But if you do it's best to leave it when it
finishes flowering in late March then give it good prune, taking out all
of the old wood and cutting back the newer stems by about 1/2 their
length, additionally removing any overlapping or crowded stems to open
up the shrub a bit. If you prune now you will take out the flowering
buds as well.

Thanks for your reply. I'll hang on till late March, but could I ask
you a bit more about 'old wood'. Imagine this plant is like an
upturned cone standing on it's point, about 8 feet high (now that I've
lopped it) with a cone angle at it's base of about 30-35 deg.
Spreading up from the point of the cone there's up to 18 or so long
straight branches of what I would call old wood- it's fairly dense.
Almost all the new growth is sprouting out vigourously from the top of
each these dead straight branches - all stout and mature. There's a
healthy leaf presence at the base but it doesn't look like it's going
to develop into much. So, when you talk about taking out the old
wood, it seems to me that there is nothing *but* old wood with new
growth sprouting out of the top? Might it be a bit drastic to cut it
all out? Effectively that would mean cutting the plant down
completely to its base. How about taking out half of them and cut the
other half back by 50% in length - then perhaps the same principle the
following year?

Incidentally, I notice that there are new buds, tiny tips most of them
but abundant, sprouting freely along the length of each of the old
stems. A few of them have started to poke out and are showing the
beginning of a leaf but nothing like the vigour of the top shoots
which have put on an extra 2 feet in the last 4 weeks! Basically,
this seems to want to be a very tall plant.

Thanks for you patience and any further insight.

fumbler wrote:
On Sun, 08 Jul 2007 18:59:55 +0100, Frank Booth Snr
wrote:


Viburnum Bodnantense tends to be less spreading in habit than
Grandiflora and also has a longer flowering period over the late autumn
winter months with a its main bloom in late winter. Otherwise both
shrubs are similar with rose pink buds and white/pink blooms.

It sounds like you only gave the new stems a light pruning. Normally you
don't bother pruning it. But if you do it's best to leave it when it
finishes flowering in late March then give it good prune, taking out all
of the old wood and cutting back the newer stems by about 1/2 their
length, additionally removing any overlapping or crowded stems to open
up the shrub a bit. If you prune now you will take out the flowering
buds as well.


Thanks for your reply. I'll hang on till late March, but could I ask
you a bit more about 'old wood'. Imagine this plant is like an
upturned cone standing on it's point, about 8 feet high (now that I've
lopped it) with a cone angle at it's base of about 30-35 deg.
Spreading up from the point of the cone there's up to 18 or so long
straight branches of what I would call old wood- it's fairly dense.
Almost all the new growth is sprouting out vigourously from the top of
each these dead straight branches - all stout and mature. There's a
healthy leaf presence at the base but it doesn't look like it's going
to develop into much. So, when you talk about taking out the old
wood, it seems to me that there is nothing *but* old wood with new
growth sprouting out of the top? Might it be a bit drastic to cut it
all out? Effectively that would mean cutting the plant down
completely to its base. How about taking out half of them and cut the
other half back by 50% in length - then perhaps the same principle the
following year?

Incidentally, I notice that there are new buds, tiny tips most of them
but abundant, sprouting freely along the length of each of the old
stems. A few of them have started to poke out and are showing the
beginning of a leaf but nothing like the vigour of the top shoots
which have put on an extra 2 feet in the last 4 weeks! Basically,
this seems to want to be a very tall plant.

Thanks for you patience and any further insight.

Well leave it for now until March unless you want to lose most of the
flowering to come later. When you prune you are aiming for an inverted
cone shape with sufficient light and air able to reach the centre of the
shrub. Therefore I'd remove at least a 1/3 to 1/2 of the current old
stems at equal distances around the outside of the shrub. I'd remove
most (not all) of any stems old and new that arise from the central
crown of the plant. Of the old stems that remain I'd hard prune down to
2-3 buds from their base. The newer taller outer stems say (2 yr growth
or less), I'd prune by half their length to the nearest bud. You should
then have a basic symmetrical shape, and will only need to do very light
pruning in the following years, removing ingrowing side branches and
continuing to remove more old stems until they are completely replaced
by the newer ones.

On Sun, 08 Jul 2007 23:27:21 +0100, Frank Booth Snr
wrote:

Well leave it for now until March unless you want to lose most of the
flowering to come later. When you prune you are aiming for an inverted
cone shape with sufficient light and air able to reach the centre of the
shrub. Therefore I'd remove at least a 1/3 to 1/2 of the current old
stems at equal distances around the outside of the shrub. I'd remove
most (not all) of any stems old and new that arise from the central
crown of the plant. Of the old stems that remain I'd hard prune down to
2-3 buds from their base. The newer taller outer stems say (2 yr growth
or less), I'd prune by half their length to the nearest bud. You should
then have a basic symmetrical shape, and will only need to do very light
pruning in the following years, removing ingrowing side branches and
continuing to remove more old stems until they are completely replaced
by the newer ones.

Excellent - thanks for the detail, much obliged.

Well leave it for now until March unless you want to lose most of the
flowering to come later. When you prune you are aiming for an inverted
cone shape with sufficient light and air able to reach the centre of the
shrub. Therefore I'd remove at least a 1/3 to 1/2 of the current old
stems at equal distances around the outside of the shrub. I'd remove
most (not all) of any stems old and new that arise from the central
crown of the plant. Of the old stems that remain I'd hard prune down to
2-3 buds from their base. The newer taller outer stems say (2 yr growth
or less), I'd prune by half their length to the nearest bud. You should
then have a basic symmetrical shape, and will only need to do very light
pruning in the following years, removing ingrowing side branches and
continuing to remove more old stems until they are completely replaced
by the newer ones.

Just a quick update. There are flowers to be seen *now* - a couple in
full bloom at the very top (I hadn't noticed the buds when they first
appeared) and quite a few more on the way. There were definitely
flowers late last autumn - I don't know if the current crop are a
result of confusion after my untimely pruning or if this is other than
the bodnantense it was thought to be. There's at least one website
talking about the "dawn" viburnum where a second flush of flowers
bloomed july/august.

Is the march pruning still the best in the light of this do you think?