Woody viburnum

Evening all

I have a viburnum at the back of my garden and it is due a good pruning as the flowers are sparse and there is a lot of space in the foliage. Would it be an issue if I chopped it in the next couple of days or should I wait for late winter/early spring. Still haven't decided whether to take a third of the old branches out and rejouvenate over the next three years or take it right back by 2/3 in one go.

Thank you

 

Hi pip

Do you know what type of viburnum you have?

 

Hi Claralou, it is a Viburnum bondantense Dawn

 

Ah yes; I have Viburnum fragrans, which is very similar. They are naturally leggy plants, which grow up rather than out - especially when young - and bloom on bare wood (although mine, which is in flower at the moment, still has plenty of leaves owing to the mild conditions). The blooms tend to be on the sparse side at the best of times, although this varies from year to year, and also with the age of the plant. Mine is a fairly venerable specimen now, and produces a much better show than it did a few years back.

If you prune now, you will lose this season's flowers - but maybe you wouldn't mind that too much. Personally I should wait until the spring, when the worst of the winter chill is behind us. Now, the vexed question of how much to chop. Generally, viburnums are very hardy and should withstand a fairly hard prune. Having said this, I bought a 'Bodnantense 'Dawn'' for my father in law, thinking it would probably be one of the few plants he couldn't kill. He gave it one of his crew-cut jobs (he's one of those people who seems to have a fear of plants actually settling down and growing) and it quickly turned up his toes. So I should treat it with a bit of respect, remembering that it will never make a bushy, rounded specimen like V. burkwoodii, whatever you do with it.

 

Hi Pip. If it's bodnantense Dawn I wouldn't prune it just now, as it may not have produced all its flowers yet.
Bodnantense can flower at any time from November through to February in my experience and the time of peak flowering seems to vary from one winter to the next, so there may be more flowers to come.
Leave the pruning until spring, then take a third of the old branches out.

 

Thanks claraLou and Trunky