Choosing how to prune your Camellias depends on why you are pruning them.

1 Answer. Not sure exactly how far back you want to prune your way overgrown Camellias, but they respond well to any amount of heavy pruning. The time to do heavy pruning is late winter, before new spring growth begins to emerge. The method and amount of pruning you do will depend on how far you want to reduce the size.

Jul 17, It is best to start pruning overgrown Camellias in later winter or early spring.

Knives, hand cutters, saws, and shears should be sharpened if necessary before pruning any camellias.

To trim back overgrown Camellias you need to cut back extra leaving the flower only inches (5cm – 6cm) from the ground. You will need to remove most of the Camellias shrub’s branches and foliage. Step 2 – Early / Estimated Reading Time: 5 mins. But don't despair, one of the neat things about camellias is that, if you really want that full-length shrubby look, it can be pruned all the way back to a stump and it will bush back out (although you may lose a couple years' blooms).

Why not give this"new look" a year or two -- first for your husband's ego, and second to see how you like it. Nov 20, We hard prune camellias at Standen if they are too large or encroaching on paths etc. Feel free to prune them back to within a foot of the ground if necessary.

They will rejuvenate but you will obviously lose the flower buds. Mar 11, Modifications are noted for the lanky-stemmed, less resilient reticulatas, which seem to reject heavy pruning.

Clean, sharp hand clippers and loppers should be used for small branches, and Estimated Reading Time: 6 mins.