i doubt you could seriously hurt either of these ...

are you cutting back.. or rejuvenation pruning???

ken

Thanks, I won't hesitate cutting'em back then!

I moved here a couple of years ago, and the dogwood had been so neglected, it took me a while to even recognize it.

It really needs to be drastically cut back as it is right now three 1.5 in. trunks and very few twigs mainly at the very top (main trunks are so tall, they're weeping back down). Not even close to the shape it should have when maintained!

The salix I planted 2 years ago, but it got out of hand last summer, way to large and crazy. So I'm looking to completely reshape it, to eventually get it denser, cleaner...

I guess, I'm cutting back both.

i hope you took the hint.. see link if you didnt ...

if you have 3 large 1.5 inch trunks.. cut one or 2.. at 3 inches .... the others.. next year ... its rejuvenation.. not shaping ... or trimming ...

different process if you want to turn the salix into a lollipop ... not quite sure what your goal is ...

speaking of which.. pruning is much easier if you have a goal.. and work toward it ... the goal is what keeps you from worrying you are not doing it right ....

ken

https://www.google.com/search?q=rejuvenation+pruning&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

Well the goal is exactly that, for the dogwood then :)

I would have probably gotten that hint in French :p My mind doesn't work quite in the same when I use English, sorry :)

The salix I find trickier because I don't want a lollipop, no. The problem being it is in a very windy, sloped area... thrunk is already pretty crooked and if I go against it, it'll just continue to crazy on me, so I've accepted the shape it will take on its own... I just want it denser, I guess. Not just long wicks showing the wind's direction... I think that would even mean be "regular pruning", no ? :)

If the willow was bought with a single trunk upon which the branches were all perched at the top the variegated form is probably grafted onto another kind of willow. So you don't want to cut the main trunk back or you will lose the variegated portion of the specimen.

Willows are best kept fresh looking with annual hard pruning - and no additional cutting back the rest of the time.

As mentioned "twig" dogwoods do better if the whole top is not cut down every year. However if yours seems to have pretty good vigor cutting all of the stems down at once this one time could be viewed as renewal pruning, that is not going to be undertaken on an annual basis. With only a percentage of the oldest stems being taken down each time in future years, with pruning not being done every year.

With both kinds there will periodically be a point when they start to look too big and shabby, with less stem color or blemishes starting to appear, and that will be the time to take action. However neither will be suitable for attempting to produce small tight ball like shapes.

I'm going to disagree with that last statement. In my area both these shrubs are used frequently in commercial plantings (schools, banks, businesses) and very frequently with any sort of swale or drainage situation and they are routinely cut/sheared back into a tight mound (24-30") on an annual basis. Since the growth on either once well established is quite vigorous, it does't seem to affect them in the least and they lose that rounded, ball-like appearance very rapidly. Certainly the dogwoods respond by producing a lot of very colorful new stem growth. The aesthetics are not adversely altered unless one wants or prefers a very loose, natural form.

Not what I was talking about.

Then apparently your statement was not very clear as to your intent.

I guess the hakuro nishiki was grafted at the bottom (one trunk up to about a foot, then three come out of there - all of them where cut back at some point and only one seems to take the lead since then - the one going with the wind), so even if I had wanted a tall lollipop, it would have been impossible.

I hear you on that one - hard pruning, no cut back, thanks.

The dogwood leaves me no other way but to go drastic; it is just not right (about six feet tall, weeping down at least four - way out of shape, very few twigs, barely any red...)

If all goes well following that, I'll keep it at that... and simply maintain its shape.

pictures?

most willow root rather easily ... if your salix is on a standard .. and you dont want the standard ... lets find out if you can root some cuttings this summer ... so you can eventually get rid of the standard plant ...

ken

Then apparently your statement was not very clear as to your intent.

Nah.