Well, I blew it. I love my lantana and can pretty well keep it where I want it, but THIS year, it kind of went all over because of our weird, weird weather. Suddenly, in the fall, when I was too busy to deal with it, it spread like crazy. It was gorgeous, but it crowded out my cotoneaster planted nearby. Where the lantana blocked out the sun, the cotoneaster went brown, leaves fell off and it looks dead. However, the cambium (is that right?) layer is still green (I checked yesterday), even though the outer and center of the branches are brown. The outer reaches of the cotoneaster spread are still green because they received sun. I cut back all of the lantana (I do it in the fall and have never had a problem, although I hear you are technically supposed to do it in the late winter.), and am actually considering pulling up that particular bed of it, to give the cotoneaster room for next year.

My question is this: should I cut back the "dead" wood of the cotoneaster? Or leave it as-is and see what happens in the spring?