Hello, my landscapers put in 3 golden privet bushes this Summer. They are all scraggly, thin and ugly. The branches are not close together, but very separated and well, not bush looking.

I have an idea of when to cut them back, late November here in Colorado, but I have no idea of just where to make the cuts on the branches, or whether to cut the main stalk?

Could someone give me an idea of where to cut back these scraggly privets? Thanks in advance.!

I would actually wait until spring to cut them back, because trimming them would cause new growth and you do not want that going into winter. You can cut them back to whatever height you would prefer. I cut mine back to around 2' tall, and they grew back nice and full. It took a while, because I used pruners and made the cuts where branches joined into a Y, but they looked very nice afterwards.