A more creative approach is to look for the character and idiosyncrasy that lies within the plant’s natural structure, which can be drawn out by imaginative pruning.
Trees and shrubs can be pruned to show off their best features, such as the beautiful bark and patchwork stems of parrotia or stuartia, which often cannot be fully appreciated under dense foliage. In some cases, it will create room underneath its skirts for spring bulbs or shade-lovers such as hellebores and geraniums.
All kinds of shrubs can be pruned creatively: old conifers such as pines, junipers, and cypresses; broad-leaved evergreens such as laurel, rhododendrons and photinias, or deciduous shrubs such as viburnums, weigela and Japanese maples. Box, willow, privet, magnolias and camellias can all benefit from this inside-out pruning.
When approaching an overgrown shrub or small tree, try to imagine what it would look like if you could see all of its main trunk and primary branches. Take the example of a Japanese bonsai artist, who will seek out the natural genius of a plant, making a relatively young plant look old, wizened and even stately. Many garden trees and shrubs naturally possess these picturesque traits without having to be subjected to the brutalisation of bonsai — in full-size trees, Japanese gardeners often apply the same principles.
Start by sticking your head inside the plant, if you can, and have a good look. There, inside the heart of the shrub, you will often discover a world of old nests and tangled webs of dead and dying twigs. This was once part of the framework of the plant, the newer growth having long since superseded it.
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First, remove all the dead and old twiggy growth, cutting the shoots right back to the main stem. This will allow you to find your way into the plant. After that, remove all the shoots that are thin and weak-looking, even though they may still support a few leaves. As you proceed you should get braver, removing shoots that cross over the top of others, for example. But, before getting too carried away, stand back periodically and take stock of the effects you have already achieved. You may just begin to see the framework of the plant emerging and get a better idea of what it would look like with even more removed. Continue to work from inside the plant, even climbing up inside its crown.
Apart from enjoying the relief of no longer having to carry the old, dead and possibly diseased wood, the plants will have a healthier life with the free flow of air that can now pass through them. They will also avoid throwing a host of shoots from the top of the crown as they would when pruned with the top-down method. The inside-out pruning may result in a few shoots breaking from the newly exposed stems but these can be easily trimmed off every year or two.
This kind of pruning can be done at almost any time of year, although some plants are more likely to bleed when the pressure of the sap is strong in spring and summer. If in doubt, consult a pruning manual, which will advise you on the best time to prune any given species.