What is this hedge plant and can i prune it to knee height?

[AlexFMF]

Hey guys,

I was wondering if you could help me identify this garden hedge at my friends place. He want's to prune this down to knee height and tidy up the garden bed.  There are a lot of dry dead branches that snap off and in some cases the base of the plant seems bare with no growth. Can this be pruned right back down and revitalized for Spring coming up?

[Simba1]

Personally I do not know what the plant is but it’s not a nice looking specimen. it’s full of hard sticklike branches that when you cutback some die off .Would he be happy to remove and replace with one of those new breed of small natives which have lovely flowers .Small Grevilleas or bottlebrush would look lovely there and can take a nice trim occasionally especially at the base.

[EricL]

Hello @AlexFMF 

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's sensational to have you join us and thanks for sharing your question about your hedge plant.

My apologies for the late reply. Would it be possible for you to please take a closer photo of the leaves of your hedge plant? This will help us identify it and we can give you recommendations regarding pruning and care for your hedge. 

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric

[AlexFMF]

Hi @EricL here are the photo's as requested. 

[AlexFMF]

Hi @Simba1 

Thank you for the offer and advice. We are working on this as a project for us and our kids to spend time together.

Kind regards

[EricL]

Hello @AlexFMF 

Thank you for sharing those extra pictures of your hedge. The shape of the red leaves that have been mixed in with your green ones indicate that this is a Photinia hedge.  

I believe it is possible to do a hard prune on the Photinia, but not all the way down to knee height. I'm just being cautious regarding the health of your plant; I propose staggering your cut every three weeks. In this manner the plant will have enough time to recover from the hard pruning. I propose pruning in autumn for good flowering the following spring.

Here is a handy guide regarding Photinias: How to grow, prune and propagate photinia

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric

[AlexFMF]

Thank you so much @EricL , i really appreciate you time and advice.