What would you do with these shrubs?

Hi all, I have been laid low with a virus so while I’m confined to the sofa I’ve been pondering a section of our garden that I haven’t touched yet.
For info, we’ve been here about two years. We’re fairly shady due to some big trees around, but the section shown in the pictures does get some decent midday and afternoon sun during summer. This area of shrubs surrounds a circle of gravel where the washing line is.

left to right, it’s a Spiraea of some kind, two conifers and a large evergreen shrub that I don’t recognise but doesn’t ever seem to do anything interesting. Next to that is a lower shrub that produces some sort of berry in spring, if I remember correctly. The tallest shrub has a honeysuckle growing up through it that’s only visible from the other side where the raised patio is.

Would love some thoughts on what to do with this. Take the whole lot out and start again? Try to reduce the size of the shrubs or crown lift so I can underplant or maybe create a den of some sort for my kids? Or something else I haven’t thought of yet? I want more colour and interest in the garden, without being overly high maintenance.

All suggestions welcome!

 

Hello @orbitingstar, sorry you're feeling poorly, hope you recover soon.

My first thought was that space doesn't appear to give you much room around the washing line, especially for sheets? It also can't allow much airflow for drying either so I would suggest you either cut them all back or perhaps just the green conifer in the middle.
Did you want to hide the washing line from the house? I imagine that was the original reason for the bushes being planted where they are.
You are probably going to have to cut the conifer(s) right down as they might not regrow if you just prune them. What is on the right hand side of the washing pole and are you happy with the rest of the garden?

 

I’m trying to give the garden an overhaul, starting with a ‘what to keep, and get rid of the rest’ approach. There are a lot of mature shrubs all over the garden, most of which I am probably going to prune back hard - if they recover, great, if not, they’ll go. I want more space for flowering plants and seasonal interest.

The other side of the washing line looks like this:


There are a few good things in there - epimediums, a small crab apple tree, some Alchemilla mollis, but there is space for a good going over to add more.

You're right the shrubs have started to cause issues with hanging up my sheets! I’m not too concerned about hiding it from the house as it’s already about 4 feet lower than the patio/house level.

Conifers won’t regrow from a hard prune, right? How far back can you go?

The big shrub in the corner is taking up an awful lot of space. Any idea what it is? Here’s a close up of the leaves.

 

With conifers, if you go back beyond green growth, they don't usually recover. Deciduous shrubs tend to be more forgiving of a hard prune.

Is the plant in the last picture thorny? There's a shrub similar to that with variegated leaves, but I think it can also be plain green. I'm trying to remember the name.

Edit - Eleaganus!

 

@ViewAhead I don’t think it has thorns - the leaves have an odd wavy edge to them, almost like a non-spiky holly, but smaller than a holly leaf - maybe 4 cm long.

If I were to prune the conifers back but staying within the green bit, would now be an ok time to do it?

 

Now should be OK! No nesting going on, and not too cold yet.

Ah, smaller than holly leaves rules out Eleaganus then.

 

Thanks for the additional photos.

The shrub is a Pittosporum, which is evergreen. I have one in my garden which is now well over 10-15ft high. Mine has tiny black flowers in April which pack a real punch of spicy perfume. I really like it as a statement small tree but it may not be to everyone's taste.

Sorry, can't help with pruning the conifers, I only have tiny ones.

 

Ah, that makes sense. I wonder if this was producing the strong scent I remember in the garden in spring but couldn't identify.

You said yours is growing as a statement small tree - does that mean I could potentially crown lift it to get space underneath?

 

My neighbours did that with a variegated Pittosporum and it made a lovely "tree". It got to about 4 m tall, with growth for the top 2m (starting at about fence height).

 

If you trim conifers, you only take off the new growth, so to keep them at a height/size you like, that's the annual task. Once you cut back too far, that's when you have the problems as most won't recover from that.
You can certainly prune the Pittosporum in all sorts of ways, so you may be able to keep that one if it's far enough from the whirly.
If you don't like any of them though - take them out is always my advice, unless you want one for a bit of screening from the washing. It's your garden, so if you don't like them...

I agree that a lot of that is too near the whirly, and when planted, the person who did it probably didn't realise they'd get a bit big and encroach on the gravelled area. Perhaps a simple screen - either that conifer nearest the house, or a man made screen with a climber or similar, and just have ground cover that stays low and doesn't affect your smalls
I have a similar situation here [ as I've kept adding plants! ] so I have to bear that in mind as it's often pretty windy here, and things like sheets can catch anything larger nearby.