When shrubs or hedges become;
- too big for their area
- more dead than alive
- infested with pests
- bent or damaged
- lacking in fullness
You may want to consider giving the shrub a fresh start often referred to as either rejuvenation or coppicing. The practice of coppicing involves the cutting of stems within a few inches from the ground to encourage regrowth from the basal stems and roots.
One of the major advantages of rejuvenation is that a healthy shrub with a healthy root system will grow back robustly and surprisingly fast, at this point you can retrain the shrub for desired appearance and shape. Most deciduous shrub species in the Calgary area respond well to being coppiced. For serious pest infestations such as oystershell scale on cotoneaster shrubs and hedges rejuvenation pruning is the only viable option for recovery. The most ideal time to coppice or rejuvenate a shrub is during the dormant period, this is also a great time to get rid of years worth of accumulated debris in really dense shrubs.
