Yes you can cut it back fairly hard, if you look inside all there will be is brown stems. You will be left with a leafless shrub and it could be 18 months to two years before it is again covered in leaves. It will be more compact but may not flower at least until next year. There is one added problem anything cut back now could be struggling with drought if this weather stays all summer. Although hebes are happy in dry soil rain is the best way to stimulate new growth. There are so many different Hebes some flower better than others you may not grow this particular one for it's flowers? Does it flower well or just on the side it faces the sun?
I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
Sorry, but hebes really don't respond well to heavy pruning. You can safely do a light trim every year to keep them compact but once you go into brown wood they'll die.
All those shrubs look to be packed close together so i'd be inclined just to remove the hebe and give the rest a light trim.
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)."
I agree with @Obelixx re the pruning, and it also depends very much on where you're located as to how well they respond to harder pruning anyway. It would be difficult to get that looking good now, as it's been clipped into a bit of a blob, rather than being nicely trimmed, so it might be better to remove and replace with another one, or with something different. Hebes need lightly trimmed after flowering to keep them looking their best. It would also be worth defining the border/planting area better and getting some fresh soil and organic matter in to beef it up if you decide on replacing it
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I have pruned Hebes into old wood successfully reducing them by two thirds. A Hebe that is in a prominent part of a garden that has been cut back can be an eyesore for sometime. I have never known one die as a result. The problem is with a mature plant green growth is often just in the top few inches. So even a light prune can result in a leafless plant.
I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
The RHS says hard pruning is not good @GardenerSuze so it's a risk.
Years ago on these boards, back in 2006, there was a whole thread about hard pruning hebes because the GW editors had "pruned" the bit where Chris Beardshaw siad to prune lightly after flowering and some posters pruned hard and then their hebes died. I remember it because themain poster on that thread was a friend and she tackled CB about it when we was kind enough to chat with us at the Chelsea flower show and we had a good laugh about it.
In this case, since the hebe is already pretty unattractive and the wrong size maybe it's worth giving it a serious haircut and then, if nothing regrows, just hoik it out anyway.
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)."
@Obelixx I think your last sentence sums it up well. A garden client doesn't necessarily understand the pros and cons of pruning large Hebes. To them it is just too big and needs attention.
I recall is a hedge of five H Midsummer Beauty which flowered well into November, I was given a plant list by the landscaper, as you know there are so many different ones. I have pruned them hard twice over the years always in spring. I noticed that the new gardener did the same this April. At the moment they are all sticks and I think regrowth will be slow. They do flower for a long time and looked lovely last November, the client was always reluctant to have them trimmed for that reason.
I have also cut back hard others Hebes on a kill or cure basis. Hanging over a drive, these were smaller leaved and they did recover but the process again was slow.
Light pruning is of course the best way but faced with a mature Hebe for the first time it is difficult, especially when you are not used to a new clients way of thinking. Renovating or hard pruning any shrub carrys some risk, you can ask the client if they are prepared to take it but they can be inclined to remind you that you are the gardener. Small Hebes are more vulnerable where a light prune is the only option.
I am sure that microclimate plays a large part in recovery too. I think it is a question for each indiviual owner to decide as you have mentioned.
I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
Posts
Even when I trim it.
Have a look at this in the meantime, until someone can confirm. Welcome to the forum by the way
https://www.nurseriesonline.co.uk/articles/Pruning_hebes.html
I've attached a close up picture as requested.
You will be left with a leafless shrub and it could be 18 months to two years before it is again covered in leaves. It will be more compact but may not flower at least until next year. There is one added problem anything cut back now could be struggling with drought if this weather stays all summer. Although hebes are happy in dry soil rain is the best way to stimulate new growth.
There are so many different Hebes some flower better than others you may not grow this particular one for it's flowers? Does it flower well or just on the side it faces the sun?
All those shrubs look to be packed close together so i'd be inclined just to remove the hebe and give the rest a light trim.
It would be difficult to get that looking good now, as it's been clipped into a bit of a blob, rather than being nicely trimmed, so it might be better to remove and replace with another one, or with something different. Hebes need lightly trimmed after flowering to keep them looking their best.
It would also be worth defining the border/planting area better and getting some fresh soil and organic matter in to beef it up if you decide on replacing it
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Years ago on these boards, back in 2006, there was a whole thread about hard pruning hebes because the GW editors had "pruned" the bit where Chris Beardshaw siad to prune lightly after flowering and some posters pruned hard and then their hebes died. I remember it because themain poster on that thread was a friend and she tackled CB about it when we was kind enough to chat with us at the Chelsea flower show and we had a good laugh about it.
In this case, since the hebe is already pretty unattractive and the wrong size maybe it's worth giving it a serious haircut and then, if nothing regrows, just hoik it out anyway.
I recall is a hedge of five H Midsummer Beauty which flowered well into November, I was given a plant list by the landscaper, as you know there are so many different ones.
I have pruned them hard twice over the years always in spring. I noticed that the new gardener did the same this April. At the moment they are all sticks and I think regrowth will be slow. They do flower for a long time and looked lovely last November, the client was always reluctant to have them trimmed for that reason.
I have also cut back hard others Hebes on a kill or cure basis. Hanging over a drive, these were smaller leaved and they did recover but the process again was slow.
Light pruning is of course the best way but faced with a mature Hebe for the first time it is difficult, especially when you are not used to a new clients way of thinking.
Renovating or hard pruning any shrub carrys some risk, you can ask the client if they are prepared to take it but they can be inclined to remind you that you are the gardener.
Small Hebes are more vulnerable where a light prune is the only option.
I am sure that microclimate plays a large part in recovery too. I think it is a question for each indiviual owner to decide as you have mentioned.