In article , "Joseph Meehan"
wrote:

Is it a good idea to cut this thing back to a few inches after it has
had several years without any trimming?

What is the proper method of annual trimming and what is the proper
method to handle an older overgrown plant?

If you mean the American redtwig C. stolonifera = C. sericea, when not
pruned this will flower well & berry profusely, but get large & by some
assessments leggy (I prefer "large & fountaining"). Spring-pruned
specimens have much brighter red or golden young stems come winter, & a
more compact appearance for spring through autumn foliage, but also very
few flowers & berries.

Pruning is not necessary for health, but only to increase youthful limbs
with brightest winter color. It can have a third pruned out of it every
other year & probably still berry nicely. If hard pruned entirely or
annually, forget berries; I don't know why anyone would shoot for the
stunty spidery shrub that results. If bark is still very & it hasn't
gotten "in the way" with its suckering & fountaining, there's no reason to
prune it that year at all. It could just as easily be left to naturalize
never pruned at all, though it'd get awfully big in time.

The thick older inner twigs are the ones that should be cut nearly to the
ground. If you want to have any flowers only prune out about one-third of
the branches in spring, which'll give it the rest of the year to produce
fresh twigs which'll be the reddest in winter. Also prune the outermost
suckers below the soil line if you want to maintain a compact form &
encourage branching more from the middle.

It should be done about March or April. If done later in spring, it won't
injur the shrub, but it won't look like much in winter, so might as well
wait until next March. Summer's a bad time to do it, & for sure won't have
developed nice limbs by winter. A major pruning can be done in autumn but
then you for sure have a stubbly thing for that winter, so again might as
well wait for March & prune just before new growth would begin.

Maybe the above also applies to the old world red-twig, but I don't have
that so not certain.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/