Hard pruning a tamarix

I've got this wayward tamarix, I posted about it a year or two ago. I suspect it has some sort of weeping gene/mutation as apart from a solitary branch this year, it has a downward curving habit. most of it is 4ft high at most but it's a good 15ft across now.



This is very pretty especially in full flower, and the dogs love it, but it makes mowing round and under it almost impossible!

Next year I'd like to put a planting bed round it so I don't have to mow round it any more (assuming I still haven't renewed my lawn with a low-mow option by then as it's still not going to be managed this year). This was the plan all along, but it's just been overtaken by other projects. To do this though I'll need to prune it back, and hard, because it's almost at ground level right from the base. It would have to go back to only a few feet across and lose some big branches.

So, three ponderings:

1) Will it cope with this?
2) When's the best time to do it if it will?
3) Suggestions for low-growing plants that are happy in dappled shade and don't require much maintenance please! For a time I thought about just sowing lawn daisies under there - I thought the colours would be a nice contrast to the pink/green of the tam - but I'm not sure they'd be dense enough to have a decent chance at out competing weeds. I don't mind some weeding but it's very difficult once the tam has spread out over the ground.

 

@nikirushka
Hope this link helps it has lots of pruning care info and even companion plants to plant with Tamarix - Happy reading
How to grow: tamarix

 

Nikirushka
You can prune hard in spring. It will respond well.
Thereafter, prune every year after flowering to keep it floriferous and compact.
Low growers for dappled shade? I suggest brunneras ...there are some beauties; hadspen cream has delightful forgrt me not flowers in spring. Geranium phaem Margaret Wilson is perfect for dappled shade....it is unusual in its foliage which is a very nice white grey and it produces lilac flowers in late spring. Campanula Birch Hybrid is a vigorous evergreen perennial with velvety purple blue flowers all summer and will grow well there. For a change of form liriopes will love the shade to produce short spikes of blue flowers in autumn. A lovely almost white foliage variety, Blondie, too.
Arabis ...different varieties incl variegated ones....will produce white or pink flowers in early spring. V nice.
Pulmonarias.....superb spring flowering plants for shade.
For superb blue flowers in spring and early summer on semi evergreen foliage check out corydallis....they are mat forming,,wide spreading, weed suppressing beauties. They go dormant in early summer but look good from winter (foliage) to late spring with blue flowers.
Hope this helps