I just wanted to say how much your video helped. My mature burning bush was just twigs and no more than 2 feet tall. I trimmed what little there was to trim back. It is a different plant altogether this year. I thought I was going to have to replace it. There are so many new branches... more than 4 times what it had before. The leaves are so green and much larger than what they had been. It looks incredibly healthy and beautiful now. Very rounded out. Thank you for the confidence in cutting my shrubs. I have now rejuvenated a few other kinds of bushes in my garden.
I just cut mine back today and thought I went too far! After this video I think I'm gonna cut it back a bit more, it has really taken over my entryway.
Glad I found you today. My landlords bush is blocking my window, tearing my screen and its NOVEMBER, yeah. Soon I can cut it down. I tried to tell her that would work, now I have proof. Hope you are still pruning and teaching, Mike!!
I just happened to stumble onto your video and boy am I happy that I did. I planted a hedge of burning bushes about 10 years ago and while it's filled in great and l really like it, it's gotten too tall for me to trim it without a ladder. I was told a number of different things about how much and when I could cut it back and apparently all the information was incorrect. Looks like I can safely cut a couple feet off of it and make my life a lot easier without risking killing them. Appreciate the video
What a great video! It's like you are in my family, we always have 'discussions' that go like this, you cut it back too much you killed it. THANK YOU for showing me that the burning bush comes back. Mine is 6' tall now and I really want to wack it back to 2 feet or less.
Your video really helped me with deciding to give a different shrub a rejuvenating pruning that has been growing into my window boxes. I also found where it had been cut down before too. Thank you for the info and confidence to just take that risk. I'm going to attempt this with my burning bush in the fall.
Thank you for this video. We moved in to a house that has a Burning Bush at the side of the garage that has gotten out of control. I'm in WI and needed to know when I could cut it back. It's September here now so I'll have to wait. But thank you!
Big Mike's right. We cut 8 bigger (6'-7') burning bushes back by 50%-60% last fall in Seattle and we could have cut more. I'm amazed to see how they're recovering. It's now April and every cut has 2 to 6 new sprouts. I cut just above joints, so there are some multi-stubs with 10 or more sprouts. Rather than trimming like a hedge (or with a chainsaw), reach down into the plant and cut at various levels. I used a saw, loppers and hand clippers.
Thanks so much, Mike! We are just about to do ours, (March 12) so we can actually get to see out our dining room windows again...I'm excited! *wink* My husband was nervous when I told him they could be cut right back, now here you are to say sure! Go ahead!
Wow!! I thought mine was big haha I'm glad I found this video. I have four of these on my property and they're all huge and round. I'll wait til late October to give them a big trim.
He's right. You can't kill the darn things. I've cut them way back in the summer and they come right back. They don't look great for a time but they come right back.
I helped a friend dig one out of the ground. We cut a lot of roots and it laid on the ground in the grass for a week. Ended up replanting it and it came back healthy. They are tough
Thanks Mike. Any advice on extracting one. How deep and or spread out are roots. Saw a vid of someone using a farm jack n chain. Looked like it worked good. Any advice is appreciated. TIA.
What’s the best tool to trim these back with and when exactly should you do it? I’ve read very early Spring. I’ve cut mine back with an electric trimmer in Spring after they’ve kind of outgrown their space a bit, but the trimmer kind of makes it look rough cut, seems like maybe I need a stronger trimmer. What do you use? I love these little trees, got 4 of them.
The weather has been sunny and in the mid 40's in my area, so I started heavy pruning one bush out of four today. I whacked the one down using a handsaw, it's now as tall as the one in this video. I also try not to let any of the branches cross each other as they grow out. I'll finish the other three bushes tomorrow weather permitting. In the spring or summer if they need trimming, I usually use an electric hedge trimmer or garden loppers. They'll grow out of the rough cut from the hedge trimmers eventually. Hope this helps.
I know I should wait till fall to cut down but can I trim off in the spring the branches that have no leaves on them (a bunch are bloomed already)? I wish I seen this in the fall lol.
Is it ok to cut my burning bushes that are about 8ft tall down to 5ft in the fall here in Massachusetts ( New England) ? will the leafs come out the following summer and fall if I attempt this ?
Like he said, wait until you get a hard freeze first (probably already have! lol), then whack away. These are actually considered invasive in a lot of places and almost impossible to kill. Just bought a house here in NE Tennessee where the previous owners didn't prune a damn thing (20' crape myrtles!), so I've got 15' burning bushes to prune myself. They'll look ugly over the winter, but will push new growth like crazy next spring. It's absolutely worth doing! Good luck and have fun doing it :-)
I bought a house that had burning bushes that hadn't been pruned. They are trees! Probably around 15ft high. I am working on cutting them way back. Not a big fan of large overgrown shrubs.
Thank you so much for this video. You answered the exact question I've been grappling with! My burning bush has grown so tall over the years that it is blocking the security camera. But I was afraid of cutting it down too low and killing it. Now I will go ahead and prune it back with confidence once it gets really cold.
Wow, I was just thinking about doing this to my overgrown B.B of 30 years this Spring, but thanks to you, i will try after thanksgiving like you said . We had our first frost the other day..i am in the NY area. After chainsawing mine, is it possible to make cuttings at that same time so i could have full grown B>B for next year..2020? If I can, would it be ok to put the cuttings in the same ground or have to bring them indoors?
Thanks for your presentation. Our yard is quite shaded and crowded (previous owners). Our burning bush is too big, but my partner is worried that it won't come back because it will be shaded out by the other bushes around it and the large maple above it. What do you suggest?
Mike, you are the best. Thanks for your video. You put my mind at ease. I just have a few questions I hope you could be kind enough to answer. I have a smoke bush that is ancient and has never been cut back. It has multiple old trunks. What should I do with that? Do I cut each trunk close to the ground or do I just cut back to were the thin stems grow out of the trunk near the top? The plants are at least 8' or more right now and the trunks themselves at least 4' high. I have an overgrown weeping forsythia. I removed some of the branches at ground level to thin out the shrub. Is that enough or should I wack this low to the ground? Finally, I have numerous scrawny rhododendrons and Azaleas. Right now they are in bud and I don't want to sacrifice any flowers. Can I use a hedge trimmer on them right after they flower? All over town I see these glorious, lush Rhododendrons and azaleas and was wondering why theirs look so much bushier than mine. Thanks for any info you can provide.
I cut mine back to about 4" above ground at the wrong time of year and they are now about 14' tall again and engulfing my garage. Ive done the same to forsythia about 12" above ground.
I knew it was going to be pruned back, but LMAO after the edit at 1.11. If I hadn't watched several of his videos (and don't get me wrong, I love this guy), I would have thought this was a joke! I laughed for 10 minutes over this. Thanks!
Great video...I have the so-called dwarf bush for 30 years and it has never disappointed me here in the NY area of its gorgeous red color....except for last year. It never got red which was a complete disappointment for me. Any ideas why that would happen? We are now in OCtober and so far it hasn't been cold enough to change its color...hopefully by Nov..if not, I may have to discard it, cause it was mainly for its Fall color that we wanted it. If it does give me color than I would do as you suggested, after Thanksgiving. Would you know why it didn't give me color last year, after 30 years?
Thanks so much for this! I got a letter this week, the beginning of summer, from the city saying that my larger burning bushes (about 6’ tall and 30 years old - I’ve pruned annually) along the parkway were overhanging the street too much and needed to be cut back...if I didn’t do they would do it for me and charge accordingly! Yikes! So, I was worried that cutting back a lot this time of year might kill them. I’m encouraged by your video! Which tools would you recommend to get the job done efficiently? I’m going to have to cut back as radically as you’ve done to get it all uniformly shaped as it grows back.
Mike, I have a burning bush about the same size as the one you pruned. About 6 feet tall and 4-5 feet wide. Can I dig this up now in November and transplant it. It just does not get enough sun where it is at. I would keep a pretty good root ball on it being it is fairly big.
Just look at all those NEW PLANTS from that one hard pruning!! I live in MN & at some point I must've accidentally sprayed some Round-up near it, half the Burning Bush was dead & I didn't want to lose the entire plant so I cut the dead brances off & pruned it back so it blended better.....this happened in July & that plant is still alive & thriving!! I think the only thing that can kill a Burning Bush is Jugulone from the Black Walnut trees
I just trimmed two of them 3 ft, they were 6 ft high, too wide, and didn't look good anyway, an insect infested them for the first time in all the years I had them and all the leaves turned a gray looking color and fell off. In the spring they should come back, get thick and be a nice size, I just hope I don't have the insect problem again, I did spay them, but it was too late, they never recovered. I still have one 8 ft tall, and another 6 ft but that height is ok where they are.
Thanks! You have a good sensible practical “nfa” way about you... Level head & that’s nice (-V.,: Making a dag’gum “religion” out’ta this tough life-) ! 🙂
My burning bush is out of control, to the point that I cannot get a ladder up there to trim it back. I think I'm going to chop it down from its 10 ft down to 3 ft this fall.
If you think that is a good sized burning bush you have not seen mine lol. No joke mine is easily 3-4 times the circumference and 75% taller. I'm thinking of taking cpl hundred cuttings to sell to a nursery next year and then cut it way back. I'm here because I was gonna kill the bush after taking the cuttings as it's just not my cup of tea. Another family member planted this a long time ago.
+Kristen Criswell Yep chop away!!! I purchased a reciprocating saw from Walmart for $27.00 and butchered everything. Out of 25 scrubs I only lost one, and that was a sick plant to start with. Rich
Hey Mike if you want be around to cut that bush back again you're going to have to do something about being big overgrown and the best time of season for you is right now.
You're a rude giant a-hole. What gives you the gall to post something like that to someone you don't even know? You are as rude and stupid as anyone can possibly be. I'm sure you are far from picture perfect yourself, and even if you were, your ignorance and poor judgement negate any physical attractiveness you may have. Try getting your head out of your own arrogant ass and worry about cultivating some civility and manners instead of remarking on other people's looks.
![Burning Bush Hard Pruning - [Hannah & the bulldog helped!]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/SlZCHTH8dac/mqdefault.jpg)
Ten years later and it's still one of the best gardening channels out there.
I just wanted to say how much your video helped. My mature burning bush was just twigs and no more than 2 feet tall. I trimmed what little there was to trim back. It is a different plant altogether this year. I thought I was going to have to replace it. There are so many new branches... more than 4 times what it had before. The leaves are so green and much larger than what they had been. It looks incredibly healthy and beautiful now. Very rounded out. Thank you for the confidence in cutting my shrubs. I have now rejuvenated a few other kinds of bushes in my garden.
Thank you. I just pruned my burning bush and was scared that I might have done too much, now I see that I can go even further!
I just cut mine back today and thought I went too far! After this video I think I'm gonna cut it back a bit more, it has really taken over my entryway.
Glad I found you today. My landlords bush is blocking my window, tearing my screen and its NOVEMBER, yeah. Soon I can cut it down. I tried to tell her that would work, now I have proof. Hope you are still pruning and teaching, Mike!!
This was so helpful! Thank you, Mike! I knew I could trust it when I saw my dude in overalls! ❤
I just happened to stumble onto your video and boy am I happy that I did. I planted a hedge of burning bushes about 10 years ago and while it's filled in great and l really like it, it's gotten too tall for me to trim it without a ladder. I was told a number of different things about how much and when I could cut it back and apparently all the information was incorrect. Looks like I can safely cut a couple feet off of it and make my life a lot easier without risking killing them. Appreciate the video
Best info I can find on pruning a burning bush. THANK YOU!
Excellent video told me everything I needed to know. Thanks, Mike.
This video is very helpful. I have to severely prune back my burning bushes from their current 8’ height to the height you did.
Thankyou! My husband cut ours hard in the fall. I feel better now, lol.
What a great video! It's like you are in my family, we always have 'discussions' that go like this, you cut it back too much you killed it. THANK YOU for showing me that the burning bush comes back. Mine is 6' tall now and I really want to wack it back to 2 feet or less.
You covered everything. Good information.
Thank. You also have a great sense of humor 😉😉😉😉
Thanks Mike! Just what I needed to know ....
You’re the best. I was wondering if we could hard prune our burning bush and some others. Now I know!
🙀
Hi Mike! Long time fan here bud, thanks for the great videos. You answered my question in this video before I even asked it. Thanks!
Your video really helped me with deciding to give a different shrub a rejuvenating pruning that has been growing into my window boxes. I also found where it had been cut down before too. Thank you for the info and confidence to just take that risk. I'm going to attempt this with my burning bush in the fall.
Fantastic video, thanks Mike
Great video, good directions for pruning!
Thank you for this video. We moved in to a house that has a Burning Bush at the side of the garage that has gotten out of control. I'm in WI and needed to know when I could cut it back. It's September here now so I'll have to wait. But thank you!
Thank you Mike. I just did this to a viburnum bruxwoodi. I can't wait to see what it looks like.
14 years later...Thank you! I got a real kick over the family argument part 😂
Big Mike's right. We cut 8 bigger (6'-7') burning bushes back by 50%-60% last fall in Seattle and we could have cut more. I'm amazed to see how they're recovering. It's now April and every cut has 2 to 6 new sprouts. I cut just above joints, so there are some multi-stubs with 10 or more sprouts. Rather than trimming like a hedge (or with a chainsaw), reach down into the plant and cut at various levels. I used a saw, loppers and hand clippers.
Thanks Mike!!! I'm on it!
Love this, especially when the Gardner becomes the therapist :-) So true.
You're the man Mike!
Thanks so much, Mike! We are just about to do ours, (March 12) so we can actually get to see out our dining room windows again...I'm excited! *wink* My husband was nervous when I told him they could be cut right back, now here you are to say sure! Go ahead!
6 years later…it grow back ok?
Yeah still haven't had the ginger shot yet lol
I just wacked at mine because I was tired of not being able to see out my bedroom window 😂
Great info. Thanks.
Thanks, mine is about 10 ft tall.....I'm chopping it in nov!
Wow!! I thought mine was big haha I'm glad I found this video. I have four of these on my property and they're all huge and round. I'll wait til late October to give them a big trim.
He's right. You can't kill the darn things. I've cut them way back in the summer and they come right back. They don't look great for a time but they come right back.
I helped a friend dig one out of the ground. We cut a lot of roots and it laid on the ground in the grass for a week. Ended up replanting it and it came back healthy. They are tough
Thanks Mike. Any advice on extracting one. How deep and or spread out are roots. Saw a vid of someone using a farm jack n chain. Looked like it worked good. Any advice is appreciated. TIA.
What’s the best tool to trim these back with and when exactly should you do it? I’ve read very early Spring. I’ve cut mine back with an electric trimmer in Spring after they’ve kind of outgrown their space a bit, but the trimmer kind of makes it look rough cut, seems like maybe I need a stronger trimmer. What do you use? I love these little trees, got 4 of them.
The weather has been sunny and in the mid 40's in my area, so I started heavy pruning one bush out of four today. I whacked the one down using a handsaw, it's now as tall as the one in this video. I also try not to let any of the branches cross each other as they grow out. I'll finish the other three bushes tomorrow weather permitting. In the spring or summer if they need trimming, I usually use an electric hedge trimmer or garden loppers. They'll grow out of the rough cut from the hedge trimmers eventually. Hope this helps.
Cleaning out my garden ty
Thank you, Mike! This is just the info I needed.
I know I should wait till fall to cut down but can I trim off in the spring the branches that have no leaves on them (a bunch are bloomed already)? I wish I seen this in the fall lol.
Very helpful, thanks!
Is it ok to cut my burning bushes that are about 8ft tall down to 5ft in the fall here in Massachusetts ( New England) ? will the leafs come out the following summer and fall if I attempt this ?
Like he said, wait until you get a hard freeze first (probably already have! lol), then whack away. These are actually considered invasive in a lot of places and almost impossible to kill. Just bought a house here in NE Tennessee where the previous owners didn't prune a damn thing (20' crape myrtles!), so I've got 15' burning bushes to prune myself. They'll look ugly over the winter, but will push new growth like crazy next spring. It's absolutely worth doing! Good luck and have fun doing it :-)
I bought a house that had burning bushes that hadn't been pruned. They are trees! Probably around 15ft high. I am working on cutting them way back. Not a big fan of large overgrown shrubs.
Thank you so much for this video. You answered the exact question I've been grappling with! My burning bush has grown so tall over the years that it is blocking the security camera. But I was afraid of cutting it down too low and killing it. Now I will go ahead and prune it back with confidence once it gets really cold.
Wow, I was just thinking about doing this to my overgrown B.B of 30 years this Spring, but thanks to you, i will try after thanksgiving like you said . We had our first frost the other day..i am in the NY area. After chainsawing mine, is it possible to make cuttings at that same time so i could have full grown B>B for next year..2020? If I can, would it be ok to put the cuttings in the same ground or have to bring them indoors?
Thanks for your presentation. Our yard is quite shaded and crowded (previous owners). Our burning bush is too big, but my partner is worried that it won't come back because it will be shaded out by the other bushes around it and the large maple above it. What do you suggest?
Thanks for your video! I usually wing it and hope for the best, but this time I thought I'd do a little research. 🙂
Mike, you are the best. Thanks for your video. You put my mind at ease. I just have a few questions I hope you could be kind enough to answer.
I have a smoke bush that is ancient and has never been cut back. It has multiple old trunks. What should I do with that? Do I cut each trunk close to the ground or do I just cut back to were the thin stems grow out of the trunk near the top? The plants are at least 8' or more right now and the trunks themselves at least 4' high.
I have an overgrown weeping forsythia. I removed some of the branches at ground level to thin out the shrub. Is that enough or should I wack this low to the ground?
Finally, I have numerous scrawny rhododendrons and Azaleas. Right now they are in bud and I don't want to sacrifice any flowers. Can I use a hedge trimmer on them right after they flower? All over town I see these glorious, lush Rhododendrons and azaleas and was wondering why theirs look so much bushier than mine. Thanks for any info you can provide.
Thanks for the lesson.
I cut mine back to about 4" above ground at the wrong time of year and they are now about 14' tall again and engulfing my garage. Ive done the same to forsythia about 12" above ground.
I knew it was going to be pruned back, but LMAO after the edit at 1.11. If I hadn't watched several of his videos (and don't get me wrong, I love this guy), I would have thought this was a joke! I laughed for 10 minutes over this. Thanks!
Great video...I have the so-called dwarf bush for 30 years and it has never disappointed me here in the NY area of its gorgeous red color....except for last year. It never got red which was a complete disappointment for me. Any ideas why that would happen? We are now in OCtober and so far it hasn't been cold enough to change its color...hopefully by Nov..if not, I may have to discard it, cause it was mainly for its Fall color that we wanted it. If it does give me color than I would do as you suggested, after Thanksgiving. Would you know why it didn't give me color last year, after 30 years?
Thanks so much for this! I got a letter this week, the beginning of summer, from the city saying that my larger burning bushes (about 6’ tall and 30 years old - I’ve pruned annually) along the parkway were overhanging the street too much and needed to be cut back...if I didn’t do they would do it for me and charge accordingly! Yikes! So, I was worried that cutting back a lot this time of year might kill them. I’m encouraged by your video! Which tools would you recommend to get the job done efficiently? I’m going to have to cut back as radically as you’ve done to get it all uniformly shaped as it grows back.
Nice.... I was going to cut mine out. But I’ll just cut it down to about 2 feet in late November.
Awesome video Mike. Just subscribed !!!
Nice thanks guys
I have a shrubs that are WAY over grown, is it better to cut way back in the shape you want it to grow, or cut down and start over?
Mike, I have a burning bush about the same size as the one you pruned. About 6 feet tall and 4-5 feet wide. Can I dig this up now in November and transplant it. It just does not get enough sun where it is at. I would keep a pretty good root ball on it being it is fairly big.
Did you transplant it? Everything go ok?
Great to know. Thank you.
Just look at all those NEW PLANTS from that one hard pruning!!
I live in MN & at some point I must've accidentally sprayed some Round-up near it, half the Burning Bush was dead & I didn't want to lose the entire plant so I cut the dead brances off & pruned it back so it blended better.....this happened in July & that plant is still alive & thriving!!
I think the only thing that can kill a Burning Bush is Jugulone from the Black Walnut trees
Thank you. This weekend...
What does it mean if your burning bush inside is more sticks than leafs?
I am a master gardener for 35 years.
What state are you in? Wondering what time of the year to cut for New England
He clearly said after the first hard frost, so whenever that is for your area.
I just trimmed two of them 3 ft, they were 6 ft high, too wide, and didn't look good anyway, an insect infested them for the first time in all the years I had them and all the leaves turned a gray looking color and fell off. In the spring they should come back, get thick and be a nice size, I just hope I don't have the insect problem again, I did spay them, but it was too late, they never recovered. I still have one 8 ft tall, and another 6 ft but that height is ok where they are.
I use a rake for hard to reach areas
Thanks! You have a good sensible practical “nfa” way about you... Level head & that’s nice (-V.,:
Making a dag’gum “religion” out’ta this tough life-) ! 🙂
New to this… why are your burning bushes not turned red if it’s November?
I trimmed my burning Bush drastically last fall, it’s now June and it looks dead as a door nail. How can i tell if i killed it :(
My burning bush is out of control, to the point that I cannot get a ladder up there to trim it back. I think I'm going to chop it down from its 10 ft down to 3 ft this fall.
If you think that is a good sized burning bush you have not seen mine lol. No joke mine is easily 3-4 times the circumference and 75% taller. I'm thinking of taking cpl hundred cuttings to sell to a nursery next year and then cut it way back. I'm here because I was gonna kill the bush after taking the cuttings as it's just not my cup of tea. Another family member planted this a long time ago.
How far apart do you plant them?
Will it grow back if cut down to the ground?
Yes. It's so vigorous you could probably cut it an inch below the ground and it will still come back fully in 5 years. Burning bush is amazing.
Great info, thanks :D
ITS YOU
is burning bush considered invasive in many places nowadays?
Just keep it isolated like the one in the video and it will not spread into the wild.
There's different species of it. Mike covers it in an article on his website.
Can you do this with crazy large ones? We bought a house and the bushes are a story high.
+Kristen Criswell Yep chop away!!! I purchased a reciprocating saw from Walmart for $27.00 and butchered everything. Out of 25 scrubs I only lost one, and that was a sick plant to start with.
Rich
Would never plant shrub of that size that close to foundation ....most common mistake most people make
My burning bush is giant. I'd really like to cut it back this week. Hopefully it can handle it
I'm trying to Identify my shrub not sure what it is
So I've heard burning bushes are invasive species,true?
The plot thicken lol
This gave me hope. My burning bushes were eaten by rabbits.
Why isn’t my burning bush turning red ? More that 8 hrs of sun a day
But I did it in spring so I think I killed them:( I am so unhappy
invasive plant, just chop it down
Hey Mike if you want be around to cut that bush back again you're going to have to do something about being big overgrown and the best time of season for you is right now.
You're a rude giant a-hole. What gives you the gall to post something like that to someone you don't even know? You are as rude and stupid as anyone can possibly be. I'm sure you are far from picture perfect yourself, and even if you were, your ignorance and poor judgement negate any physical attractiveness you may have. Try getting your head out of your own arrogant ass and worry about cultivating some civility and manners instead of remarking on other people's looks.