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Pruning advice
Peanuts3
Posts: 759
Hello. I planted a Philadelphus Belle Etoile about 18months ago. It has grown really well this year and we had some gorgeous flowers on it. My favourite smell in the garden.
How is best to prune it so I can create a strong nice looking shrub ? Is now the best time to prune it back or is it too late.
Just don't want to ruin it by making it grow into a poor shape. Still have lots to learn re layouts of flowerbeds etc. Have realised the flowerbed is colourful, but straggly, but that is a whole new thread 
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Posts
Cut out the wood that has flowered. It will be brown and woody. Leave the new green whippy shoots which will flower next year. See if you can see the shape you want and work towards that too. If you don't cut some back each year it may flower less and get big and woody and a bit of a tangle too.
I'd only cut out a third of the flowered branches, it's still quite small and needs to grow a bit bigger, they can be magnificent if given a bit of room and encouragement.
Philadelphus is pruned just after flowering. It will flower next year on the wood it made this year so it should be done before late summer or you will lose flowers next year. You prune off the top third and when the shrub is older you cut out some of the main stems to stop it getting congested and to encourage new ones.
I was only thinking this evening that I wished I had hit mine a bit harder, to prepare it for next year. May still do so. But mine is much older than yours.
I think your post was meant to be a wake-up call for me.