My bed of fifteen year old Skimmia reevsiana is looking very bad this spring; their leaf colour is poor and they don't have many berries or flower buds. I'm wondering whether cutting them back hard (or moderately)is likely to spur new growth or just stress them and kill them faster. As the second photo shows the centres have been getting barer for several years, but until this winter there was always lots of new leaves and good flower and berry production. I lost one plant a few years ago to some unknown disease but the rest have been OK till now. Does anyone have experience with hard pruning this plant? Do the old stems look healthy?
Shrubs here developing sparseness and dieback (the yellowish outer leaves in that one section may next die) I always first assume is from root rot due to water molds as this is frequent. As the roots go, so goes the top. However, yours have been growing for 15 years in a restricted space - perhaps there is not that much root growth beyond the opening and out under the pavers and the space is getting "used up".
