Hard pruning Sarcococca (Sweetbox)
jamie72carter
Posts: 6
We moved into our new house in January and adopted a very overgrown garden.We have been hard pruning numerous shrubs and bushes, but confused what to do with a rather large Sarcococca. It’s about 8 foot tall and very woody. Any thoughts greatly appreciated
0
Posts
The foliage doesn't look fine enough for Sarco.
What would you recommend ?
How do you suggest I prune it ?
I'd wait until it's flowered, then take out anything damaged or diseased. Then you can carefully prune stems back to a good 'joint' on a branch, and it should produce more new growth. You can take it back by about half - and then see how it responds. Even by a third initially. If it comes away again, you can do the same next year, until you get it more bushy and a size more suitable for you.
Another method with big shrubs is to take some branches right out completely - right back to the base, but I'm not sure it would work terribly well with that.
Ideally, you'd tidy up round the base and give it a bit of food and water, just to get it going again. A mulch over that is good too - compost or bark if you have any. I don't do much to mine - it looks after itself really
Mine isn't anywhere near that size, but it's more confined anyway. I just take bit off if they're getting in the way, or tie them in along the fence behind etc.
You don't really have to wait, but it's simply so that you can enjoy the flowers while they're there
It's in a raised bed, and is around a metre or so in height, and about half that in depth, with a few sticky out bits