pruning Viburnum juddii
We have some Viburnum juddii that were planted by a previous homeowner that are getting a little out of control. Over the past two years I've done light pruning to keep them back and shaped, but the shrubs are getting too big for the space they occupy and are starting to grow up against the house and overtake some neighboring shrubs.
In reading about Viburnum it sounds like most people don't really prune, assuming the shrub is planted appropriately. Since ours were planted without sufficient space, I've had to prune, which I think has made the problem worse and caused branches to split off and get a bit messy.
I'm attaching some photos of what two of the plants currently look like and was wondering if anyone had any pruning advice. Should I just keep cutting them back to the size I want or should I take more drastic actions and do some restorative pruning to get them small again? Perhaps cutting them back to their main stems of 3 feet or so?
All the shrubs are very healthy, just way too big. I know that if I cut them back I'll likely lose any flowering the next season.
This first photo is actually two plants. These are in our back yard. I have another row of 4 plants in the front that are having the same overgrowth issue.
The following photos are the base of the two plants in the above photo.
Comments (6)
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Viburnum 'Juddii'
Comments (5)Viburnums benefit from cross-pollination when it comes to producing berries. You need to find another viburnum that has the same or at least an overlapping bloom time for cross pollination to occur. Since juddii is a hybrid with the Korean Spice Viburnum V. carlesii, perhaps another V. carlesii cultivar would be good. Here is a link that might be useful: An earlier thread on V. carlesii...See MoreLooking for pics of viburnum juddii and carlesii
Comments (9)Kathy, I looked up the Hardenbergia. It is a pretty plant! Your going to hate me when I tell you about the Wisteria, lol. I bought it real cheap at Home Depot(one of my few plant purchases from there) and it is 6 years old. I did read about how wisteria likes to be root bound to bloom well, so I dug a large hole and put in good soil, but no fertilizer. I read over fertilizing slows blooming. The lawn soil is heavy clay once you get a few inches down so I knew ahead of time I was creating a bath tub effect. Normally this is not a good thing, but I took a chance that what I had read was correct. It started blooming after 3 years. The last couple it has bloomed profusely, and it even makes a few blooms in summer. I have been training it into a tree form. The pole it is attached to is barely visible in the photo. I got it up to the almost the top of the pole by the end of the year. Obviously I have to prune it though out the year, but it really isn't as hard to control as I thought it would be. Amy, Thanks! The Viburnum is in front of a very large rose, Fantin Latour. I was still learning about taking photos at this point, well I still am!lol. But I now know to take with more of a overcast, or either very early or late in the day, for better quality photos. Because of the extreme shadows, you can't see that there is pink forget-me-nots under the viburnum either. Remy...See MoreArrowwood viburnum--pruning for overgrown?
Comments (5)Sorry for getting to this so late. Maybe OP is still around? For all species of multi-stemmed shrubs, the all-around best treatment is occasional to yearly renewal pruning. In this type of pruning, you select for removal the oldest, stoutest and most mature "canes", which you cut at ground level or as near to ground level as you can, without dinging up the remaining more juvenile stems. By doing so, you are favoring the more vigorous younger stems, which will help with flower/fruit production in many cases, as well as helping to keep the plant a bit more manageable. This is not easy work by any means, but it will allow an older shrub to remain youthful and vigorous more or less indefinitely. +oM...See MoreQuestions for owners of Viburnum Juddii
Comments (2)Depends on where you might live. In milder climates, they can get quite large - as much as 10' tall and almost that wide. Fall color is good - generally a deep burgundy. Berries are black and sparse (which is not a concern to me as I grow viburnums solely for their flowers and/or fragrance, not their fruit) but are considered to be persistent. I consider this to be the most fragrant of any of the viburnums with a delightful aroma that carries very well. Next the doublefiles, this is my favorite of any viburnum....See MoreDan
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gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
7 years agoDan
7 years agogardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
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