Mine was old, woody and very large too so I pruned it back to stumps.Wasn't sure what would happen. It has come back from that but I don't recommend doing it. I had lightly pruned it for a few years trying to get it to fill in but it didn't work. It is now a much smaller plant along with a seedling and looking good. I'm going to keep it smaller than it had been by pruning it every year and see how that works. It blooms in march here so it is an early resource for the bees and hummers. It'll be a standard in this garden.
