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How drastically can I prune a completely neglected dogwood?
Hi, Just moved house and the short tuft of Astro turf back garden ends with a boundary of tortured and dying silver birch (which I will sadly have to loose) and a completely neglected dogwood, which I’d love to resuscitate. I’ve googled and watched videos on how to prune, but none start from the mess that was this. I’m concerned about cutting all the newish wood out. I’ve started to prune ... removing dead branches and lunging limbs of bare old wood but I don’t know how far to go. Should I leave some coloured wood even though it’s a terrible shape? Will it need this to survive a drastic cut? The top is now budding (cut two weeks ago) but no sign of life below. I don’t want to be left with a bare woody base and a ‘snorkel’ of life at the top! 


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