Some pictures might help. But basically aucuba is as tough as old boots and is hard to hurt. It sounds as if you want them to look like individual blobs but rest assured that even if they grow into each other it won't harm them. You could cut them right down to a few inches from the ground and they will regrow. To get a plant to thicken up you have to cut away live stems because they're the ones that will back bud. Cutting dead stems is good for appearance but won't do anything for thickening the shrub up.

They will look worse before they look better. Don't panic.

add pix using the camera/photo icon.. below the box you type in ... ken

Thank you, Ken and floral! Here are pictures. The closeup shows the Acuba i pruned last night in the center of the photo; the retaining wall is a bit visible in the lower center...I'm standing on my lawn looking towards the back of my property, with the fence there.

On the right of center, the Acuba is growing all the way into a neighboring azalea. On the left, it is growing into another Acuba that I haven't pruned yet (it appears to have hardly any of the black damage that the first one has had.

In the second photo, I put a bamboo shoot for you to see where the other (non-pruned) Acuba has its base, though it is actually pretty spread out. You can also see the branches I pruned, and I must correct my earlier statement that I pruned only the dead branches...I remembered when going out there tonight to take the photo that I had trimmed a couple of branches that were growing down in front, obscuring the wall.

by the way, I had to go up on the wall and climb around to the fence behind the plant to get to the parts I wanted to prune. I realized early on that the stems of the black parts were originating from the "back" of the plant, which is growing up against the fence.

Floral, I should clarify that I don't really need to see these Acubas defined as separate plants. I wanted to mainly 1) get the black parts out and 2) make them less overgrown-looking, and show the wall, for example. Any feedback welcome!

I'd cut the one you've pruned right down to the ground. The azalea needs the space and light. The aucuba will regrow over the next few years. For the other aucuba I'd prune out a percentage of the stems right to the ground and repeat over the years until the whole shrub had been renewed. Then I'd keep up regular light control indefinitely. By that I don't mean shearing, but judicious cutting out of individual stems. Btw I love your lush green garden. Nice wall.

Hi Ken and Floral....sorry for the slow response as I did the pruning a little over a week ago and was very unhappy with my result! I did prune the one you recommended and tried to thin out the one next to it by 1/3. But this is what I think the issues are...

First, there are actually more Acubas there than I realized; it was hard to tell where one ended and another began, and I couldn't see the bases well when they were so bushy and I was going to look at them in the dusky evenings after work. But last weekend I realized how many are there. In the photos, there is an Acuba that I pruned a little bit on the left, but it's really two, with the bases about a foot apart. Here's a picture--the spot where there is the all-cut-back Acuba is on the center right, the 1/3 pruned Acuba in the center, and the 1/10 pruned (so far) Acuba is on the left.

Second, the ones I pruned showed me that the leaves are about 4 feet from the base with no leaves except near the ends. That means that I cannot really make the plant "lower", as there would be no leaves (until next year, I presume).

And if the "spread" is 4 feet and they are planted just a couple of feet apart, something seems wrong...perhaps they are way overgrown and shouldn't have been allowed to grow more than a couple of feet high (?), or they are planted too close together (or their offspring grew up in the middle and were permitted to grow as new bushes...I can see next to the established ones that there are shoots growing a few inches from the base).

third, the one on the left is trying to grow out to get under the shade of the dogwood, I think.

Fourth, it revealed that the azalea that was being crowded out looks in very sorry shape!! see picture..

This is where I started to get depressed not knowing how to address all of the above issues. And there is also another section of Acuba on the other part of my yard, again looking like its crowding out the azalea, and also trying to get out from under the dogwood's shade...

And so I started to get paralyzed with how to deal with all this! I am almost thinking I should get rid of the Acuba or at least cut them all back and only let 1/2 of them grow back! Would that be a good idea or no? And would there be any hope for the azaleas?

thank you in advance for your thoughts!

Why not just move the azaleas and leave the Aucubas alone?.......except for the dead growth, of course. The aucubas were meant to be a hedge to cover the fence. That's why they were planted close together. Plus, after time, low branches touching the ground will root. If a little covers the wall more than you like, prune a little there too.

I'm researching what to do with an overgrown Aucuba. SunshineX, would love to know what you ultimately did and if you let the Aucuba grow, if you could provide a photo for now. Thanks!

Was it planted with not enough room to grow without pruning? A picture would help. Aucubas can be pruned and they respond well.

I have two large plants in a tight space(they are in a space that has 3 walls due to the configuration of the house) that gets eastern morning sun. The stems are super long before they leaf out at the tips and they are now covering my windows - not good! I am cutting way down the 2" diameter stems to just above a node (at about 5'6") and hoping they will leaf out. It's challenging to take a photo due to the tight space. My guess is that they weren't pruned for many years. They are being crowded out by a 9' tall Azara Microphylla on one side to make matters even more extreme!

Oh! And the deer LOVE aucuba, so I'm appreciating that they are somewhat inaccessible to the deer. In this photo the aucuba is on the left, behind the Azara Microphylla shrub.

Yes, deer like aucuba. They prune my plants on a regular basis.