"SarahH" wrote in message
...
Paul Kelly wrote:

"SarahH" wrote in message
...
Hi :-)
Ive got an enormous choisya that seems to be trying to take over my
garden. Its very nice, just too big. How drastically can I prune it?

As hard as you like!

snip very useful details

Brilliant - Thankyou Paul, thats good news and sounds quite simple!
When I trim the majority back how long will it take to get new leaves? I
seem to
have just a layer of leaves about 5" thick and nothing but bare wood below
that,
so if I cut it back as far as I like it will be completely bald.


Wheh I've done it, (to varying degrees of severity!) it comes back withing a
few week at this time of the year and very quickly looks green.

That 5" layer of leaves is just what you get on a plant left unpruned fo a
long time. Choisya, as with many shrubs, positevely benefits from an ongoing
3 year cyvle of pruning. Ideally, you do it after flowering rather than
before but in term of end effect there is no difference.

paul