Trimming over grown burning bushes

[Gadgetman]

I'm wondering if any of you guys can tell me how much I can trim off these things without killing them. I realize that I need to wait for late winter before doing this. They are about 8' tall at this point and I am wanting to maybe but them down to 5' or so. Is this going to kill them or will they resprout shoots off the remaining branches? I planted these shrubs when we built the house 12 years ago. I guess if I have to replant that is what I will have to do. should have stayed on the trimming thing all along....

[cheesehead]

I reccomend trimming it down in stages. you should be able to remove about 1 foot off of the top right away then remove 1/3 of the branches this winter 1/3 next and the rest in the 3rd year. depending upon the shape of your bush you could take the trimmed branches down to less than 5 feet as the new growth will rise back up. this method of trimming should also create a fuller look to your shrubs.

I have 2 miniature burning bushes that the rabbits do a good job of trimming every winter and they have come back every year so far, so I guess some drastic pruning may not hurt them to much.

[Steve Foss]

You can cut burning bush off at the ground and start over. They'll come back just fine.

If you don't want to do that, I recommend thinning them over winter, as well as trimming their height. If you just cut them down from 8 to 5 feet without thinning, they'll sprout out at the cuts you made and will get really thick right at the top but not farther down. If you thin first, then cut the whole hedge to about three feet tall, you can trim a couple of times each year as it grows, and that will allow the hedge to remain thicker through its whole height. For thinning, I'd say take out about 1/4 to 1/3 of the vertical branches.