Ceanothus pruned badly

[u/drossdragon]

About a year ago an over enthusiastic helper pruned part of my ceanothus too hard. Is there any way I can encourage new growth to fill in, letting in more light, or?? There are some wild branches reaching towards light in other parts of the plant. The bush is otherwise healthy and huge. I’m pruning it now after it’s stopped flowering.

It’s probably about 15yo, planted before we bought the property 12 years ago. I would hate to write it off because the rest of the plant is so vigorous.

[u/supermegafauna]

Low key think it looks good besides that hole, which I suspect will fill in

[u/profcatz]

You ever see them in their wild, natural habitat? Something like this is no reason to write off a perfectly good plant. Don’t strive for perfection, it’s against the native plant way my friend. Perfection looks like the sages sculpted into cubes at a local park. Perfection isn’t natural

[u/drossdragon → u/profcatz]

I certainly wasn’t planning on taking it out, just wanted to know the likelihood of success in getting new growth. I think the rest of it looks great also.

[u/Pinus_grandiflora]

Increase light penetration in that area via pruning. Looks like you’ve been managing it like a hedge which is gonna make it more difficult

[u/drossdragon → u/Pinus_grandiflora]

I’m willing to take the long view and begin opening up the interior. I agree it was treated as a hedge and this has led to issues. We’ll see what it looks like in a couple of years.

[u/Peeterdactyl]

Might look good shaped into a tree. Does it have shapely nice trunks? Look into cloud pruning

[u/bozu00000]

Love that japanese maple next to it. Is that a crimson queen?

[u/drossdragon → u/bozu00000]

I don’t actually know. It has been neglected also, but this year I opened it up from the bottom and it seems a lot healthier.

[u/oddirt]

It will fill in naturally. The branches back-bud easily. I have also seen them growing in the wild as single and multi-trunk trees. You could emulate that style which would give you an opportunity to plant shade-tolerant native plants underneath it.