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Pruning advice and an ID request pls

happychopperhappychopper Posts: 12
in Plants
I have two horribly overgrown and neglected hebe shrubs that I'd like to cut back down to size - the problem is they're at the point now where the foliage only goes about 3" deep before it turns to bare wood. Does anyone know if I can cut them right back to ground and successfully regrow?

Also if anyone can tell me what the plant in the last picture is I'd be grateful - I also have the same pruning question regarding it too!

Posts

  • Kitty 2Kitty 2 Posts: 5,150
    I took a chance on hard pruning a much smaller leggy hebe last year and it survived. It has bushed out quite nicely this year but had fewer flowers.
    Not sure how such big specimens would respond (especially in this heatwave). 

    The advice I read at the time was to only take out 1/3 to 1/2 of the branches. I was naughty and did 2/3rds, kept it fed and well watered after pruning.

    Your mystery plant looks like brachyglottis. Can take a hard prune but I do mine in spring. The only summer pruning I do is to take off the flowerbuds. I like the foliage, not the flowers 😄.
  • happychopperhappychopper Posts: 12
    Lovely, thank you! I'll leave it till after we've had some rain and then give it a chop :)
  • hogweedhogweed Posts: 4,053
    I've found hebes to be quite temperamental regarding hard pruning. Some will take it, others die. Just so you are aware. Don't hard prune if you are not willing to replace it!
    'Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement' - Helen Keller
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Take some cuttings as insurance.  As Hogweed says, many hebes are temperamental and don't like being pruned back hard. 
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • happychopperhappychopper Posts: 12
    Thanks obelixx and hogweed, I'll definitely take some cuttings!
  • Janie BJanie B Posts: 963
    I severely pruned a straggly hebe on 7 June, so a few weeks ago, didn't really care if it lived or died...




    And today:




    Lincolnshire
  • happychopperhappychopper Posts: 12
    Oh wow! Did you cut it all down in one go?
  • Janie BJanie B Posts: 963
    Yep... just needed to get rid. Sometimes it pays to take the risk (other times, maybe not so much...). Did the same this year (at about the same time) with viburnum tinus (they all had bleeding v. beetle) and some out-of-control weigela, and they're all coming back apace. Maybe not the best time to cut back, but it seems to have worked out ok. This time!
    Lincolnshire
  • Kitty 2Kitty 2 Posts: 5,150
    Mine looked pretty much the same as Janie B's first photo after I'd given it the chop. You can see how it looks now in the bottom right corner of this pic taken last week.



    I did take cuttings at the time and also have four new tiny hebe babies. This is them today.



    I like your style Janie, I'm a risk taker too 😉😁. Hacked my unruly weigela down to a stump last Autumn (wrong time of year) and it's bounced back with great vigour.
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