google: REJUVENATION PRUNING OF SHRUBS ...

ken

Thanks Ken. I googled and found that apparently these are good candidates for rejuvenation. I guess that explains why the bush I thought I had cut down has started to grow back. I guess I'll try doing the same for the rest of them.

To be perfectly honest, they are not "overgrown" at all, although they may well be larger than you want :-) Photinias get to be large shrubs, even small trees - 20' is not out of reason.

And despites Ken's suggestion, broadleaf evergreen shrubs are seldom included in what is typically called 'rejuvenation pruning' - that is usually limited to deciduous shrubs and really to caning deciduous shrubs. Broadleaf evergreen shrubs - like those typically used for hedging purposes: laurel, photinia, boxwood, holly, etc. - are often sheared, sometimes several times a season, to maintain a tidy and size-limiting appearance.

And these types of shrubs can usually tolerate a pretty hard cut. Mid-summer is maybe not the ideal time, but you should be able to reduce by a third. Cutting back further may produce more stress than necessary at this time of year. You can cut back again in early spring as the plant pushes new growth. FWIW, several smaller pruning jobs during the course of the season are usually more beneficial than an infrequent major one.

Just to provide some clarification, shrub rejuvenation pruning is typically defined as the removal of a third of the shrub at the base, beginning with the oldest stems first. This encourages new vigorous basal growth while helping to reduce the overall size of the plant. And is a three year process.

Broadleaf evergreens are seldom approached in this way typically because they are trunked or not caning shrubs.. Hard or renewal pruning - almost to the ground, but ideally only by a third also - can be performed on many, but not all, types. And never cutting stems at the base but rather from the top down and the sides in..

Here is a link that might be useful: rejuvenation pruning

Thank you gardengal. I wasn't planning on taking them all the way down now. but maybe I'll try cutting it down by a third. I am new to all of this and just don't want a messy looking yard. So when you say cutting it down a third. How exactly do I go about doing that? Do just chop a third off the top and the sides? or do I have to trim it down a third in a certain way? I just trimmed them w/a hedge trimmer in the begining of may (The picture attached was before trimming) as it was looking messy as you could see in that picture. But now it's july and it's starting to get scragally looking again and the top is looks all uneven. My goal is to try to get it down to 6 feet high

Thanks!

Hedge trimmers work fine for this process!! And yes, you can lower the overall height by about a third. And trim up the sides if necessary. You run the risk of the least pleasant looking result if you take the sides back too hard, so go gently :-) And since photinias do have large leaves, you are bound to have a bit of a "chewed up" look using hedge trimmers but the only way to avoid that is pruning back individual stems and that's just craziness!! As fast as these guys grow, the whacked foliage will be invisible in no time.

To me that looks like a rather splendid, mature Photinia hedge. Lots of people would be envious. As gardengal48 says, you could just cut it as you would hedge.

Thanks for your input gardengal. I actually just ordered one of those extend pole hedge trimmers so I could reach across the top. Every Summer this photinia hedge had a mohawk b/c I couldnt reach the middle...ha.

I'm going to take a foot or two off the top and go easy on the sides.

We have one another single photinia bush on the side of the house that's been shaped into a globe, but has gotten bigger then I like. What are your suggestions w/that? should I just continue to trim it down slightly each time I trim it to get it to a smaller manageable size.

I'm just looking to not have to bring out the ladder every time I have to trim. haha

Looks pretty to me - didn't know these could work in NJ.