Bushes pruned

I trimmed two bushes over the weekend of the 10th: the viburnum bush on the side of the house and hydrangea tree in the front. The viburnum I trimmed in preparation for executing the rest of my "plan" for the South side of the house (both landscape designers agreed that it should be trimmed back), so it now looks like this:

Viburnum after pruning

Unfortunately I didn't take a before shot, so it's hard to see what I did, but I'd say it's roughly half the size it was.

Next, I trimmed up the hydrangea tree. I did a little research before I did it. I didn't find much, but ended up using method two from this guide. I used method two because it is a Kyushu Hydrangea, which according to BackyardGardener is paniculata hydrangea. This is what it says:

Paniculatas (PG/Limelight types) can be pruned in the fall, winter, or spring. However, it is not necessary to prune them every year. It is suggested that one trim out crossing branches and those that do not contribute to an attractive form whenever necessary.

Paniculata hydrangeas are the only hydrangeas that can be pruned into a tree-form. If one is attempting to grow a paniculata as a tree, the developing trunk and main top branches should not be removed. If a panicultata that is trained into a tree-form is cut or broken off close to the ground, it will grow back as a shrub unless the training and pruning is started again from the new shoots. 

So I trimmed it down so that it now looks like this:

Hydrangea tree after pruning

Again I don't have a before shot, but I probably pruned it down by more than half. It was growing quite wildly last year, so it was due, but hopefully I didn't prune it too much. As usual, we'll see!