man i hate these sideways pix ...

but it looks like a purple leafed barberry ... are there a plethora of thorns???

i doubt it matters with this ID.. but do include your location in the future ...

ken

Sorry about the sideways pic. I'm in NC. I had a great intro and better pic and lost it trying to post this from my phone in the yard. I'm Kim and I'm probably going to landscapers Hell for azalea and Holly murder. I whacked them today. They are all horribly overgrown and I went out to try a little trim. It was a disaster and now I have stumps. Trying to ID the purple one so maybe I can do better by it.

And yes! A plethora of thorns.

I used loppers and a saw. I do know there are methods for Pruning but it's amazing how many different opinions you find on the subject on the net. I'm certainly not an expert but I want to learn. I said that I hacked them bc I did some research and went out with a plan and got frustrated. They were so overgrown that just a little 1/3 pruning wasn't helping. I felt that if I cut them back drastically they might survive and if not I will start over in the fall. I cut back my azaleas ( just bloomed) and holly (should have done a bit earlier) to 1-3 feet from the ground. Timing wasn't great but not the worst. It's spring break and the time I have off to do large scale yard work. I think if these make it I can continue to learn and do a better job of timing and calculated pruning in the future. The barberry is probably planted too close to other shrubs actually. I need to also decide what to leave, take out or move.

OK, got you. Thanks for clarifying! I get hung up on words and descriptions as a regular feature of my life, lol. All that said, barberries are increasingly being seen as invasive menaces. I wasn't necessarily sold on this species' being a bad actor until last summer-came upon a hugely infested woods in scenic Door county, WI, which is a place holding many rare and valuable native species. So if it's invading there, it's officially a problem in my book!

Finally, shrubs are quite resilient. People like me tend to get alarmed when maybe the very best methodology isn't being used somewhere, but in time, even abused plants can bounce back very well. Used to have a neighbor right behind me who would "prune" his scraggly box elder tree......with an ax! Literally, get up in the tree and just pound and chop branches off or shorter. Truly barbaric work. Well, even that tree-partially because it was a box elder-would green out like nothing happened. Of course, its structure was abysmal and that tree no longer stands. But it would become a bright green ball of foliage each summer!

+oM