I planted 6 of those. Planning to shape into nice round globes after flowering. Seems like a hardy flourishing plant so far. Good question about old wood. The flower color of victoria impressiva isn't as beautiful and bright blue as others I've seen, but this was what was available.

I don't think this plant responds very well to hard pruning - you might end up with a dead, or at least disfigured, plant. They can be kept smaller if sheared regularly, but once it has grown big, it is too late.

I agree, the colour on 'Victoria' isn't that great but it is hardy here. I planted mine under a rambling rose 'Albertine' which I have growing on the back side of the house. They kind of look good together. I guess I'll try cutting it back by 1/3 and take my chances.

A......

Ian is right. No matter how often you prune it back, it'll never stay. All plants have certain heights they're supposed to attain. When you cut them back (especially using heading cuts), they grow right back, often faster than before. Most Ceanothus do get really big, and there's no way to stop them. It's not the plant's fault it was planted where it wouldn't fit.
One thing you can do is to thin out some of the tallest branches. This can help it not look quite as big. You'll never be able to keep it small, though.

Ian is right in that they'll grow back and pretty darn rapidly too. But I've found they can take some pretty drastic pruning as well. Before I knew exactly what monstors these could grow into, I planted two, very cute 1 gallon Victoria's along my drive. Some 18 years later (don't believe that short-lived fairy tale, either) these behemoths are easily 8 feet tall and equally wide, if not wider. Backing out of the drive without pruning them radically at least once a season is a bit of a suicide mission :-)

They have always responded beautifully to this treatment, virtually the only care they receive. I have never pruned down into the wood other than to remove an entire branch at point of origin and wouldn't recommend quite so severe an approach, but hard pruning - reducing size by 1/3 to 1/2 - is quite doable.

These really are misplaced in my garden but I won't remove them. They bloom expansively in late spring and I find the sky blue color very appealing. And when in bloom they are so heavily visited by bees the entire shrub quivers and hums. I've watched passersby just stop and watch them in fascination.

btw, Victoria is used as a hedge in a commercial parking lot just down the road. They get pruned several times a season, look great and bloom like crazy.

Thanks for the info, with mine it's not the height I'm concerned about, it's the front facing part, if I can prune some of the lower branches part way back, I think that might work for me. I want to keep to the natural shape as much as possible. If that doesn't work out she comes.

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Yes, you can certainly prune branches back. Just head back to another growth point. I took about 3' off the drive side of mine early last fall - was tough to get car doors open before that :-)

It's too bad that you don't have room to make it into a tree. I started one as a 3 gallon plant, and thinned and trained it just like a small tree to retain a nice branch structure. It reached 6' tall in 2 growing seasons.

They can become exceptionally nice small tree forms if properly pruned every year.

I never cut one back to bare wood, but here's a clue...

If you can see nodes or leaf scars at nodes, it's probable that it will sprout new buds.

Tree form, now that's a thought, not for this one but I'll have to look around the garden and see if I can fit one in somewhere else. I have done the same thing with a Magnolia 'Stellata' which I bought many years ago.

I just love this forum, one can solve most problems here and get all kinds of new ideas. Back to the Nurseries again.

A......