Hey landscape experts! New home owner here, google tells me this is a Viburnum bush (I have no clue). I would love some advice on how to do some major pruning on this big guy. I’m considering removing it, but I would really appreciate your thoughts. Thanks!
by Masonseiler625
8 Comments
Flat top it 8ninches below your eaves trough. Then start the the bottom and flair it out like an inside pylon… subtle flair take more off the top then bottom
Most shrubs, including this one, can handle significant pruning. I would cut it down to about railing top level.
hmmm fresh paint some new windows maybe a bigger porch
Not far enough. To the ground. If you cut it higher it will have ugly old branches, possibly shoot up with straight ugly sticks and will be right back where it is now by next winter.
Too much? Go inside and cut out the thickest and oldest branches to the ground. Remove one, get out and see how it looks then choose your next victim.
Then when you get sick of fighting a big shrub where a small one belongs remove it.
I would remove it, seeing that it appears to be covering a window and do something about the porch railing that is right in the middle of the window tbh
Yank it out completely. That Viburnum is a textbook case of putting the wrong plant in the wrong place. Whoever planted it ignored its mature size and now it is swallowing your window and suffocating your gas meter. You could chop it down hard, but you will just be fighting its natural shape year after year while creating an ugly hacked up mess right next to your front entry. Save yourself the headache and dig it out by the roots so your house can finally breathe.
Once that monster is gone you will have a blank slate to actually design that foundation bed correctly. You need low sweeping plant masses that anchor the deck to the ground without blocking your sightlines or utility access. Before you rush to the nursery and repeat the previous owners mistake, run a photo of the cleared space through the GardenDream web app. It lets you overlay realistic plant layouts and materials right onto your photo so you can visualize the scale and spacing before you spend a dime. Look into getting some low evergreen structure mixed with native perennials in there to soften that foundation line properly.
Yeah as first post says prune it down, your not killin it, prune down and thin it out you will be surprised how easy it is especially with just getting rid of obvious dead stuff, prune off branches running into each other, just shape the way you want but definitely down to railing height and nice it’s not huge in width to begin with.
I would remove it. It seems extremely close to the house and the roots may damage your foundation.