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Pruning garrya

turmericturmeric Posts: 830
in Plants
Hi, my neighbour has a huge garrya and wants to reduce its size.  She doesn't mind losing the catkins next year.  It's about 10 foot high and wide, can she and I reduce it by half?  It's blocking a path (I don't think she realised it would get this wide).  Many thanks.

Posts

  • Paul B3Paul B3 Posts: 3,154
    Strictly speaking , Garrya elliptica shrubs should be pruned immediately after the catkins have withered away .
    In your case , it sounds like a pretty large shrub ; if mine I would sacrifice a few of these and simply reduce the width with a good pruning saw , removing sturdy outer branches .
    You'll lose a lot of catkins by pruning the top to reduce height , but sometimes we have no other options ; good luck !

    PS  It will recover !  ;)
  • turmericturmeric Posts: 830
    Thanks Paul. We realised we’d lose the catkins next year but the shrub was planted about 20 years ago and getting past it is getting difficult. We didn’t want to cut back to bare branches if it killed it but from what you’re saying I think we’ll be ok.
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