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The most drastic pruning of overgrown plants can be used with broadleaf evergreens (hollies, privet, azaleas, boxwood, southern magnolia, etc.) to control overgrown, leggy or scraggly growth or on specific deciduous shrub species such as lilacs and spirea. This is done by cutting the entire plant to the ground or selectively removing one third of the oldest and largest limbs each year. This method is called “rejuvenation,” because this category of shrubs will send out new trunks from the root system to replace the old, unproductive or oversized limbs.