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Deutzia - more dead than alive

corianderwhishcorianderwhish Posts: 22
in Problem solving
hello all, I think this is a deutzia (though please do correct me if I’m wrong) but it’s not a happy one.  Acres of dead branches, which I cut off (after doing the gentle branch scratch test) but now all that is left is a very sorry, tall, skinny creature that would always be the last to be picked for a sports team if it were human. How do I get it back to a healthy bush shape, please - I’m unnerved by how very dead even these remaining branches with leaves on look, with no lower growth?  Why does this happen to a shrub - most of it dies but a few sections will show life only at the top of long branches? 

Posts

  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    With deutzia (and philadelphus, which this could also be - I can't tell from the photo), the easiest thing to do is cut back a third of the stems (the oldest ones) each year, immediately after flowering has finished.  This will promote new strong shoots from the base which will flower the following year.  Doing this means older unproductive wood is automatically removed, keeping the shrub looking good.

    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    If it were mine I would cut the loses of next years flowers and cut the whole thing down. Either plant will shoot out from the base.
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

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