My daphne is getting too big and 'leggy'. Can I prune it back.
By Sutherland35
United States
I live in Scotland and the plant is apparently quite happy in its position - in a shady spot. The branches are woody with leaves at the end of them. Hence the reason I am afraid to prune it.
On plant
Daphne mezereum
22 Jun, 2009
Answers
They don't mind you removing dead, diseased and damaged wood, but don't take kindly to hard pruning.
22 Jun, 2009
I was reading the other day that the way to propagate Daphnes was to mound up earth around them and after a year or two they would send out roots from the individual stems and you could sever and replant them. Just a thought!
22 Jun, 2009
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I would hesitate to prune back a Daphne that only has leaves on the ends of the branches as there is nothing left for it to produce new leaves on.
I think the problem here is that the shrub is planted in the shade, hence the lack of leaves in the middle of the plant. Here in Moray I grow my Daphnes in sunny positions and have no reason to prune them.
Personaly I would leave it well alone, Sutherland.
22 Jun, 2009