On 15 Mar 2005 23:15:07 -0800, (jj3000) wrote:

How to prune nandina (heavenly bamboo)?

Mine has a scrub shape but then there are a few new tender shoots
sticking out from the top, it looks non-uniform and ugly.

I heard you prune back the old canes 8-12" off the ground, but what
would it do for the height? How can I get new growth to a uniform
height?

In my old house, I didn't know what they were, I just cut off the
stalks all top height wise, the top looked like vertical sticks for a
couple of years (real ugly) but after a couple of years it regrew
nicely.. maybe it took that long because we didn't have a sprinkler
for that area.. or maybe I cut off too much.

http://www.thegardenhelper.com/nandina.html

I have two types of nandina, one with berries that I recall should
only be pruned in March so as not to interrupt the berry production.
(Zone 8) They also produce an umbrella like appearance, but smaller
plants pop up to cover the bare space under the umbrella. I'm trying
to get big plants in that area and don't prune mine at all. The
waxwings come through every spring and usually clean out the berries
and I look forward to seeing them.

The other type without berries is more conducive to shaping and
probably can be pruned any time, but grow more slowly.

Regards,

Hal