I'm working on a completely overgrown part of our garden. It used to be a mixed border including holly, photinia, mahonia, choisa, holly...and then wasn't touched for 20-30 years. I want to keep some of the mature plants, but bringing it back under control to be healthy and look good, and also reduce in size to reclaim some of the garden.
I found an ancient photinia in there, which I'd really like to keep. But it's really old and was deeply buried in thick greenery so it only has leaves on the top 2m of it's 6m height. It has 5 thick trunks at ground level, each15-20cm thick.
I read that you can pretty much cut photinia down to any level to rejuvenate it... but will that work for such an old tree? I guess I'd cut one trunk a year down to ground level to gradually bring it right back down. Although there is less light near the ground, due to other plants. Would that work? Or would it just kill it? Is there a better way to reduce and rejuvenate it? (I'll also take cuttings from the offcuts).
I similarly found an incredible Mahonia in there, which looks like a giant alien, with tendrils all tangled up then going out about 4m in each direction. I absolutely love the shape of it. The Mahonia does have a few bits of greenery further in, as well as at the very tips, so I'm hoping that when I clear some greenery to give it light, it might recover. Any suggestions for it?
Many thanks