Six weeks ago I had written a post that had me wondering aloud as to how I would prune my Ninebark 'Diablo'. After many sleepless nights and hours upon hours of research, I finally made a decision.
Here she is in current state:
With the differing branch colors indicating older versus newer "wood":
And then we attacked with the pruners, and here is the end result:
I went with the "not too drastic" approach as I cut out about 1/3 of the older wood at the base of the shrub hoping to keep it in bounds along my foundation without losing all of the blooms and the subsequent seedheads.
In a perfect world, I prefer to let my shrubs grow as they will without any interference. But I have had this particular Ninebark for five years now and it has been chowed to the ground numerous times by the deer. Now that it is hidden along my foundation planting, I am keeping it here for good and will do my best to maintain the appropriate size.
More photos to come in the near future as she begins to leave out and hopefully the shape will remain appealing after the haircut it has been given.
