Pruning Hebes

Hi everyone, this is my favourite Hebe. I love the colours. It's one of the first things I planted when I moved in 5/6 years ago and knew nothing about gardening. It's now too big and is overhanging the grass. Can I cut it right back? How far can I go? It's quite woody. I don't want to get it wrong and lose it! I've taken some cuttings but I don't know how successful they're going to be.

I also have a section (pictured) that is not variated anymore. What causes that and is there anything I can do about it?

 

I think light trimming works much better than hard cut backs with Hebes, so best to do a light trim every year rather than something harder every two or three years.
I'd do it after the flowers fade.
They do regenerate from older wood sometimes, but I dont think its guaranteed.

Maybe make sure the cuttings have rooted before doing it, as I remember they root fairly easy.

I'd remove the all green part right back to where it joins another stem.

 

Good news in that 2 of the 3 cuttings I took have rooted. I've put them into bigger pots. Hope I don't kill them yet!

Any idea about the variegation loss?

 

As I said, remove the parts that have reverted to all green right back to variegated wood.

 

Ah, thanks. I'd misunderstood what you meant there. I thought you meant to only cut the green bit of the stem when pruning, not as far as the brown bit. I see what you mean now!