Overgrown Pittosporum

Hi all, I’m hoping for a little help. We’ve recently moved into a property with this overgrown Pittosporum(?) in the garden.

It appears to be experiencing reversion of the variegation, particularly from one runner and is also rather overgrown; shading the greenhouse in the process, which is obviously not ideal.

Any ideas for rejuvenating this shrub without causing disaster? I gather now is the perfect time of year to prune. I’ve love to keep it if possible, but it does need taming in its location.

Many thanks in advance!

 

Hi Kyuss. If the reversion is mostly on one runner, I'd say that's good news as you could take that bit out quite easily. Then you could neaten up the shape. Where are you in the country? If you might still get a hard frost, I'd wait till the danger of that has passed. Less stressful for the plant.

 

Bite the bullet! I had a similar one, without the reversion, that had gone bare around the base. I chopped it hard, gave it a feed and it's rejuvenating nicely

 

Thanks both, I really appreciate your advice. I shall be brave and start by taking out the reversion, then attempt to tidy the rest! I’m in Somerset, so I think the chance of us having a hard frost is rapidly decreasing with every day now

 

More likely to drown than get frosted then!

 

I’ve got a couple, and just take them down to the height I want, whenever I notice that they are getting straggly. Doesn’t seem to have done them any harm at all! Just be cautious that there might be nests being built in there.

 

That's interesting @noisette47 - how far down did you cut? I've got a poorly placed Pittosporum - but my mum likes it where it is, so I'm having to maintain it at about 60-70cm high. Am always worried it will give up and just start loosing leaves and density. But from what you're saying, you can cut them quite low and they still grow back? Or have I misunderstood...?

 

Initially I just cut the most bare branches back to about 30cm, 1ft. I'm a coward Then, when they responded by putting out new shoots I did the rest all around the first 1.5m, 5ft. That still left a fair bit of growth higher up, which I'll leave for now.
I remember doing a huge, overgrown, straggly P. tenuifolium for a client in UK, who insisted on it being chopped to a 1m high stump.....it died, not unsurprisingly.
It sounds as though a dwarf P. tobira or 'Tom Thumb' would be a better bet for your Mum's garden

 

I've been looking at dwarf ones. I've got the one with the silvering tinged leaves - can't quite remember the name. My mum isn't keen on change so I'll have to move it under cover of darkness - how likely is it to survive a transplant do you think? I'm hoping the roots haven't spread too far as it is still compact.

 

That sounds like a Mission Impossible thing @Carrie Carroll ! Dead of night, dressed all in black, digging frantically...
Surely she'd notice the change?

 

She notices EVERYTHING!