It should recover but a pic would help.

tj

that's a shame..I think most "landscapers" prune unnecessarily to make money..I hate butchered plants and I feel your pain..

That's what I'm talking about, nicholsworth, butchered plants...thank you for understanding my gardening goofiness. They are like my babies!

tsugajunkie, it's dark here now but I'll post one tomorrow. Thanks

I'm curious..does your husband like the pruning job?..if not have him call the landscaper and tell them their pruning job ruined your shrub(s) and get your money back..

Nicholsworth, he's out of town...we'll see how this plays out when he's back

he might not like their work but be reluctant to contact them..it's awkward to complain but sometimes I can't help myself..lol..we don't hire anyone for any yardwork except for large trees..up to now we're able to do the other work ourselves..

My sympathies. It is unfortunate that your shrubs now have an unappealing shape and have lost most new growth. However, one of the nice things about all three of those shrubs is that they aren’t troubled by proper pruning so you can fix things. Unfortunately, the typical practice by many unskilled folks who call themselves landscapers is to remove new top and side growth with electric or gas trimmers, instead of pruning them properly with hand pruners. This leads to dense outer growth that shades out the interior and over time will create dead spots in addition to the ugly, unnatural shape. And I try to avoid pruning after leaf out since having bare branches means that I can see the branches to know where to best make cuts. The solution is to learn to prune them yourself as needed and with best practice for each kind and to make clear to DH that the pruning will be your responsibility.

Dogwood: I would cut select branches on the dogwood down to 6” now. Next spring before leaf out, do the same for another set of branches on your dogwood and then repeat the third spring with the remaining unpruned branches. The spirea and the dogwood are both suckering shrubs that will send out new growth from the base of the plant to over time replace old, badly pruned growth, and by pruning about 1/3 of the stems every year to the base, the dogwood will always have some new growth with bright winter bark so that it looks good all year round. It will allow a more natural shape than the type of pruning practiced on your shrubs this year.

Spirea: Next spring before leaf out, at the same time as you prune the dogwood, prune the entire spirea down to 8” or so.The spirea will send out new growth rapidly and be an entirely new plant within less than a month of being hard pruned even though it feels like you were overly harsh in pruning the entire plant so hard. This will keep the lower branches from being shaded out and dying, which results in a mass of dead twigs at the bottom of the plant. I hard prune my spirea every three years or so to keep it fresh and healthy looking. I know other gardeners who do it every year.

Viburnum: By pruning now, the landscaper may have removed this year’s flowers, depending on timing and type of Viburnum. After bloom season, cut some stems back to where branches fork, and remove all stubs left by the landscaper so that the shrub sends out new branches to create a more natural shape.

One thing to consider that may have prompted the hack job of pruning - Are your plants placed properly to allow growth without being crowded up against buildings or each other? Sometimes plants are placed for the current size at planting instead of the size that they will grow to become and this requires pruning for size. If not placed properly, you may want to move some of them so that they don’t need pruning for size.

Wow oh wow, NHBabs, thank you so much for the detailed plan of action. I have always objected to the way the shrubs are pruned and now I have the knowledge to defend them. (yes, gardening is a nurturing activity for me in a big way) I will do this myself and am encouraged we can recover from this "hack" job. Thank you.

dbarron, You are right. I should have known better than to delegate this chore. I appreciate the commiseration of other plant lovers.

Of any plant, shrub dogwoods can recover easily from bad pruning. I generally recommend minimal pruning on them to allow them to assume a very natural shape, except for removing older canes to encourage better stem color.

It is my firm belief that most seem to think pruning is an annual requirement for trees and shrubs. It is not, except to provide some structural guidance for shade trees and to remove any dead or diseased or conflicted growth. Of course this assumes that the plants have been sited correctly so that they can be allowed to grow to their intended shape and size without obstructing views/access or conflicting with their neighbors.

Gardengal48, thank you for responding. I am hopeful that my beautiful dogwood can recover. Because of all the Houzz discussions I have taken to heart the need to properly site plants to ensure their success. I was out there 3 years ago with my tape measure anticipating it's mature size, sun, water, zoning.... I am learning and having a successful result because of it. Thanks to all who are so generous with their knowledge. Man v. nature, I accept - man v. man, not so much

My area now has mow and blow companies "barbering" landscapes all over the place (with natural habit specimens "needing a haircut"). Such operations mow the turf and mow the trees and shrubs as well. In fact Seattle is even where a membership organization was founded to address such practices (link below). Much of the time the work is not being done by those who own and operate them but rather employees. The nearly always out of context, across the board formal shearing is probably driven much of the time by non-gardening commercial property owning (as well as private) customers that ask for it or expect it, with attacking the plants and shrinking them down markedly actually being desired by them. There is also this idea present that the resulting comical effects are instead sophisticated, because there is a history of wealthy people commissioning formal gardens featuring closely sheared hedges and topiary.

"Twig" dogwoods are deer favorites so your 'Bailhalo' probably has an ingrained ability to bounce back from being "browsed" fairly readily. It is certainly possible to cut such kinds down to short stems in order to freshen the stem color, by making the nearly entire top consist of recently formed shoots. (However doing this every year can weaken the shrub).

Plant Amnesty

https://www.plantamnesty.org/

Embothrium, thank you for your insight. I am feeling a better about the plant now that I am hearing it can recover. Like in your comments - it was just not necessary to do this. And what a great resource is Plant Amnesty. Thank you.

I have a guy who cuts the lawn and does a great job--but I would NEVER allow him to prune anything unless I was right there. This spring he mulched a friend's garden---almost 7 inches and simply buried many perennials.

Well that 7 inches should prevent most weeds...except some of those perennials ones ;)

Yes, laceyvail, lesson learned...I will do it myself. Love the mulch story -

im kinda in a hard core coffee buzz .. lol ... and i cant focus on all the previous answers ...

if he gave it a hardcore haircut .... i might go in there and do a bit of selective pruning a bit further into the plant ... to negate the haircut effect ... outward facing buds ... clean cuts.. etc ..... and if i had to forego next years bloom ... it wouldnt bother me ... as future structure would be more important ...

if someone already said that.. they get the credit ... i am just reinforcing said statement ...

ken

Oh, Ken, you're the best. I always like reading your comments; I have learned so much from them. I am going to do the selective pruning as has been recommended by you and NHBabs. Wish me luck - I do get nervous about cutting.

I've learned a lot from ken and NHBabs..I trust what they say..

My local council cuts all the dogwoods back EVERY SINGLE YEAR. None of this, ' cut a third of stems halfway, a third to the base and leave a third alone'. Nope, just annually hacked. To within inches of the base. And they return, to fulsome vigour, every single time. Yep, it may shorten their lives a bit (although the opposite happens with pollarded and coppiced trees)...and they look ungainly in spring but, in my estimation, the main effect from this annual, all -over shearing, is an increased vigour in regrowth which now necessitates severe stooling back...like a treadmill because growth always follows a cutting...only rather than a simple lopping...radical thinning is often needed since once graceful shrubs have become condensed clumps of twiggery.

Although I am belabouring the point, this is a completely temporary irritation - your dogwood will bounce back within the season, as though it had never been cut..

I agree. Shrub dogwoods and willows (and a bunch of other common shrubs I can't be bothered to name) can be cut back hard annually just as Camp described with no adverse effect. And I've never noticed it to have any influence on shortening the lifespan - quite the reverse.

Oh wow, Campanula and GardenGal, thank you so much for reassuring me that my dogwood is much more resilient that I thought. I know when we cut down our knock-out roses and hydrangea in late winter/early spring. They alway come back beautifully. Are you saying the same will happen to the dogwood? When I first planted it, it was only about 3 feet tall and I was planning/hoping it would eventually be about 4-5 feet tall when it matured; which it did until somebody cut it down by a foot. The hydrangeas always come back full height but the roses stay on the smaller side. Sounds like you're both saying it will perform more like a hydrangea. Long story short...after hearing from the houzz gardeners ... (she sings to herself) "don't worry, be happy." It's going to be fine.