What to do with this topiary ball

Hi all,

This topiary ball (my fairly undedicated guess a privet) has been thriving in my garden and I've always known it as an evergreen, that was until a spell of exceptionally cold weather for the south of England December 2022. We had over a week of temps down to -11 or so and this and a number of other plants that were hardy enough for a typical winter took a hit.

The trunk has life, there are some new shoots sprouting out encouragingly.

Will the top likely see leaves again? Should I wait or prune? If prune, when and how hard please?

Appreciate any guidance.


Before (a few years ago):




Current:



New signs of life:

 

Are you sure its privet, the leaves look small to me.

You can scratch away at the bark higher up and see if its green underneath.

Probably best to just leave it at least another month before doing anything drastic.

 

Hi. I am not sure it's privet at all. It does have small leaves.

The trunk reveals green right at the top of lightly scratched, the branches do not.

 

Leave that shoot to develop it may give a clue as to what it is.
The top almost looks like box.
For some reason it looks like the head may be dead.

Just a thought, but wondering if it's a grafted plant, where they graft something slightly different on the top of a strong stem.

But time will tell.

 

It's alive and thriving, but no longer a topiary ball!




If original box top hadn't died due to the extreme December 2022 temps, box tree moth would have got it summer of 2023 anyway, they have been prolific and devastating in my area (North Bucks).