Australian Bottle Brush - pruning

I have an Australian Bottle Brush shrub which has grown out of shape due to an overhanging buddleia. Ihave now trimmed the buddleia back. Can I safely prune the bottle brush right back to encourage it to grow straight next year? Grateful for any advice.

 

I would wait until it has next flowered next spring then immediately cut it back, this will give it all summer to put on new growth for flowers the year after,if you cut it back now you will lose the flowers next year.

 

Trimming back, or even hard pruning the buddleia will always mean it will grow back to at least the size it was.... so this will be a reoccuring problem.

If the bottlebrush isn't too big, can you think about moving it?

Buddleias are difficult to move, but go easily and quickly from cuttings.

Bottlebrushes are a wee bit tender, so if you are going to prune, wait until signs of growth are just appearing next spring, but you'll be cutting off the flowering stems!