Hello folks, I'm a first-time poster and pretty novice gardener! I just bought a property on a half acre lot. The previous owners, who were not here for very long, did not keep up with the maintenance of the lot very well.. Many shrubs are over-grown and in need of attention. I want to prune some back. I have already started on a couple that I was able to ID on my own - a red-twig dogwood and a purple-leaf sand cherry. I cit back the dogwood aggressively because it had become wild looking, with lots of old, dead and large trunks. I saved a few of the younger shoots cutting them back a fair bit too but not completely. I am going to tackle the sand cherry today as it has also become scraggly and over-grown. I plan to target all of the big branches and even the smaller ones cutting them back as close to the ground as possible. I hope this is the proper strategy for this plant under these conditions. I need help IDing a few others and I will start with this one for now since I am going to also prune it today or tomorrow. By the way, I am in zone 4 (or 5b). Thank you very much in advance!
I don't have a clue since it hasn't leafed out. Perhaps someone else will be able to identify it for you.
Thought the buds would help with id. Since it's a tangled mess, would you suggest giving it an aggressive hair cut? Being cold here still, it's dormant. I am thinking it can't hurt. Thoughts?
Splaker---You are far braver than I! I would want to find out what kind of shrub it is first. It does look very dense though. How about some judicious thinning of the branches (ie cutting back to the trunk) rather than giving the whole shrub a "haircut". Trouble with haircuts is that they tend to produce multiple shoots on each shoot you cut, thus an even denser shrub.