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What to do with huge currant
Stephanie newish gardener
Posts: 516
Hi
In our new garden there are loads of huge established shrubs, many of which need a bit of restorative pruning. The first one I'm tackling is an enormous flowering currant, which stands more than 15' tall and is about 30' wide. In spring it looked lovely, but now we are in early summer I can see there is a large (and equally neglected) hardy fuchsia growing in/next to it. Ideally I would have started pruning it a bit sooner but we were away for two weeks and so I started pruning it yesterday and so far have taken off quite a lot of the flowered stems, and now I'm debating about what to do next.
I can't reach the top of all of it to take off the flowered stems, and it is already taller than I really want it to be, so I am thinking that I might end up taking some of it down to the ground, maybe renovating over a couple or three years.
I want to give the fuchsia more space to breathe, and indeed room for me to sort that out once it finishes flowering later in the summer, and I have also found a hebe cowering under the currant and I want to give that a bit of space too.
This is it in flower this spring.....
This was it by yesterday evening, and you can see how tall it is, making it impossible to prune the top.
This is the hebe on the left below, now with a bit more light. The shrubs were planted below a wall that's about a foot tall. The ground is the top of a steep slope that goes down to parkland behind it and it is pretty overgrown so not accessible to get behind the plants.
This is the base of the currant, and there is plenty of new growth in there so I think it would be fine to have some of the older branches cut out.
The bulk of the fuchsia is to the right of the currant, but the bit circled in red below is a branch that has been allowed to grow into the currant over the years. Once it has finished flowering I'm thinking I will cut that branch off as it is very long and needs supporting or it will probably break at some point.
This is the inside of the currant with the fuchsia growing through it.
So, the big question is, should I go bold and cut the whole thing down now, or should I do it in stages over 2-3 years?
I've seen both methods advocated, and I suppose to a certain extent it is a matter of preference. I know that any new growth this year ideally needs a full season's growing time to stand a chance of being able to flower next year. Whilst I'm slightly late pruning it, I think there should be enough time for flowering stems to mature this year. If I cut it down there won't be a big empty space because of the trees behind it, but I don't know if that is the best thing for the plant, given how old it is.
The front of the currant faces east and the path in front of it runs broadly N-S, so it gets a fair amount of sun.
I offer this to the collective for thoughts and wisdom.....
Thanks
In our new garden there are loads of huge established shrubs, many of which need a bit of restorative pruning. The first one I'm tackling is an enormous flowering currant, which stands more than 15' tall and is about 30' wide. In spring it looked lovely, but now we are in early summer I can see there is a large (and equally neglected) hardy fuchsia growing in/next to it. Ideally I would have started pruning it a bit sooner but we were away for two weeks and so I started pruning it yesterday and so far have taken off quite a lot of the flowered stems, and now I'm debating about what to do next.
I can't reach the top of all of it to take off the flowered stems, and it is already taller than I really want it to be, so I am thinking that I might end up taking some of it down to the ground, maybe renovating over a couple or three years.
I want to give the fuchsia more space to breathe, and indeed room for me to sort that out once it finishes flowering later in the summer, and I have also found a hebe cowering under the currant and I want to give that a bit of space too.
This is it in flower this spring.....
This was it by yesterday evening, and you can see how tall it is, making it impossible to prune the top.
This is the hebe on the left below, now with a bit more light. The shrubs were planted below a wall that's about a foot tall. The ground is the top of a steep slope that goes down to parkland behind it and it is pretty overgrown so not accessible to get behind the plants.
This is the base of the currant, and there is plenty of new growth in there so I think it would be fine to have some of the older branches cut out.
The bulk of the fuchsia is to the right of the currant, but the bit circled in red below is a branch that has been allowed to grow into the currant over the years. Once it has finished flowering I'm thinking I will cut that branch off as it is very long and needs supporting or it will probably break at some point.
This is the inside of the currant with the fuchsia growing through it.
So, the big question is, should I go bold and cut the whole thing down now, or should I do it in stages over 2-3 years?
I've seen both methods advocated, and I suppose to a certain extent it is a matter of preference. I know that any new growth this year ideally needs a full season's growing time to stand a chance of being able to flower next year. Whilst I'm slightly late pruning it, I think there should be enough time for flowering stems to mature this year. If I cut it down there won't be a big empty space because of the trees behind it, but I don't know if that is the best thing for the plant, given how old it is.
The front of the currant faces east and the path in front of it runs broadly N-S, so it gets a fair amount of sun.
I offer this to the collective for thoughts and wisdom.....
Thanks
No longer newish but can't think of a new name so will remain forever newish. 
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In photo four it does have alot of growth at the base so you could consider going back to that and letting the new low branches develop. It will be shocked by such treatment and if we have a very dry summer again there will be a risk. You may not get flowers next year either.
Or you could take it down by a third and cut out a few of the very old stems at the base. Next year remove a fifth of the old stems and cut back the flowered stems to a strong bud. Pruning annually after flowering every year is the best way to prune this particular Ribes.
Future management is a problem as you say you cannot get to all of it, do you want a shrub that is half pruned flowering at the back with no flowers at the front?
Sometimes with very old shrubs the only way forward is to accept that they have come to the end and need to go.
So there are options which you have obviously explored. I think you will now need to consider and have a plan of action.
Your fuchsia will need to be cut back next spring.
I would like to keep it if possible, but not at the size it is now, so perhaps taking it down by about 1/3 would be the way to go, and gradually take out the oldest stems.
Thanks for the note re the fuchsia too. I've only ever had fuchsias in pots that return to the greenhouse for winter, never a hardy one, and it has been something I've wanted for a while. Again I'm not sure I want it at the size it is, and it would almost certainly benefit from a bit of a reshape, but at the right time, which, unlike the spring-flowering currant, is not immediately after flowering!
I understand that it can be split whilst dormant in autumn or early spring but I have never tried it. If it is very old it may take some lifting and splitting too.
These two plants flower in different seasons and pruning is also at a different time of year.