okay thank you this is the first year I ever saw something like this.

now that you noticed it.. you will probably start noticing it everywhere ...

some suggest its a sign of good air quality ...

i have lichens growing all over my plastic mailbox .. and i am positive ... its not hurting the plastic ... lol .. in other words ... if it gets or takes nothing from the plastic.. then most likely.. its not harming the shrub ....

they are actually kinda pretty .... check out the link

ken

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffcm&q=lichens&iax=images&ia=images

And since it appears to be a viburnum stop cutting off all of the replacement shoots coming from the base of the shrub - viburnums are "cane growers" that do not produce the permanent individual stems of "tree likes" such as rhododendrons, lend themselves therefore either visually or from a good plant care standpoint to being "arborized" (limbed up to have elevated, tree like crowns).

The way to make this example fit into the planting space is to dig it up sometime when it is not in leaf and replant it where it has enough room to develop.

I see we gave it a good trimming a few years back actually we're happy with the way it looks now.... I'll have to snap a picture when the weather clears it's starting to flower

Although you're happy with the look, and it interesting in a gnarly way, by not allowing any new replacement growth to develop your shrub is going to have a reduced life span. The lichen has only got a hold because the stems are old. If you could bear to leave a few new stems to develop you'll do the health of your Viburnum a favour.

I guess we can try!

Oh, dear. Sorry to say it, but that is a cruelly tortured example of a potentially beautiful shrub. They are easily raised from cuttings. I'd make some new plants, put them where they have room to express their true natures and remove that one. Not only has it had its offspring chopped off, its been poodled into a characterless blob. The poor thing was planted in the wrong place from the start. There are plenty of naturally dumpy shrubs, or ones which take happily to topiary, which would be suitable for that corner.

Could still be dug when leafless and replanted where it has room to develop, allowed to recover its natural structure and beauty.

hey sorry I offended you. I recall posting maybe 3 years ago about removing that sucker and the consensus was it wasn't going to be easy to get out and if I recall correctly someone suggested moving the walkway away from the house.

I will say professional removal and moving a walkway is not in our budget. I personally do not think it looks that bad at least compared to what it look like when we moved in. You have to realize we've been here 15 years the house could be at the 30 years old.

It was completely overgrown...looked horrible...blocked the walkway and personally, with my allergies I found it's scent when in bloom annoyingly.

Also, we had no where to move it.

So there she sets. To be honest that whole area needs to be reworked...there is other foilaiage not suitable for the area that should be removed as well.

Trenching around it with a spade and lifting it when dormant, dragging it on a tarp to a better spot should be possible. If nothing else the better spot being the back of somebody else's truck - if it's Viburnum carlesii lots of other people love its floral fragrance.