The 14 or so we've planted uniformly max out at about 4ft tall and 5ft wide. They are often planted too close together for their mature size, but is not a problem unless planning to maintain them as rounded independent plants rather than a continuous hedge. They can be kept smaller with pruning, but will open up a bit on the bottom with age when the drooping crown is trimmed back.

We keep several 20+ year-olds pruned below windows that are only 2ft above the slab and will be extending their beds to add flowers or ground-cover to hide their "bare legs". We pick prune every other winter before the early spring growth spurt to keep them small. We also prune with loppers, shears, or electric trimmer any time as needed, but rarely have to.

Edit: These are pretty tough plants and seem to be able to take being rehabbed aggressively like boxwoods. However, when we've reduced size by over 30%, tried to do height the first winter and width the second - petty sure they could survive it all at once, but had no need to risk it.

They will take shaping and trimming any time of year, and may even take heavy pruning now, but like Bostedo I've never tried doing it in the summer.

Because the hedge of dwarf youpons in my front yard were growing unevenly I did 'bite the bullet' a couple of times and lowered them by almost a foot, but this was in very early spring. Nothing was showing at the top except bare sticks, but they filled out nicely.

I might add that it's been my experience that once the bottom branches loose leaves they don't grow back. This is probably because the branches are shaded by the thick top and not receiving enough sun.

I noticed an interesting treatment to three dwarf youpons planted in a row at the McNay Art Museum here in San Antonio. It looks like at one time the gardeners might have trimmed the lower branches giving them an interesting bonsai effect, although they are in need of another cleaning out of a few leaves in this photo:

franksmom, how far apart are they planted? That might determine if you need to take some out or just keep trimming.

Is there a reason for it PKponder? And do you have to keep after it all the time, or do they not grow back?

They're planted 3-4' center to center. They're only about 2 feet tall, though. These were planted sometime shortly before we bought the house 6 years ago, so they were kind of skimpy.

When I planted mine, the recommendation on the tag was 4 feet apart, so that sounds about right. Maybe a little close, but if you took one out, then the next ones would be 6 to 8 feet apart and you'd have a hole.

Marti, I like the way they look with the bottom trimmed plus it helps with the whitefly infestations by providing more air flow. I do have to trim the new growth maybe twice a year. Mine are in my yard, not used as foundation plantings.

Thanks PKponder. I wondered if it was for airflow.