Pruning Advice

GardenSpurs

Hello
I have a number of shrubs I am a bit uncertain of how to deal with.  Please feel free to offer any advice on how best to manage these.  Thanks



The shrub seems to have grown apart and has a gap in the middle




The Spirea is very woody and congested with growth only at the top.  Shall I just cut back hard now





This looks half dead - should I cut back to ground now



This is way too big now both in width and height. Any ideas on the best way to tackle it  

Borderline

Might be best to post some more photos without the sun behind the shrubs or take  photos a little bit closer, as cannot see the leaves clearly to be certain.

Photo 2 looks like a Hebe shrub. It's most likely had inconsistent pruning in the past leading to a shrub that has a lot of bare leggy stems. It's best to prune them lightly at least once a year to help them maintain an even coverage of foliage.

They can sometimes rejuvenate if you prune back a bit more, and doing so, they may take a long time to regrow, but this is not always guaranteed.

GardenSpurs

Borderline said:

Might be best to post some more photos without the sun behind the shrubs or take  photos a little bit closer, as cannot see the leaves clearly to be certain.

Yes i will do that and come back to ththe forum.  Thank you 

Allotment Boy

The GW mag always has a section on what to prune when have a look on the other parts of the site you may get specific information. Some shrubs can be cut hard back (to the ground) and they will come back others must be done slowly over several years. Too many variables to cover here in one post, you need to know which you are dealing with to avoid disaster.