Pruning of mystery bush

 I have a large bush in my garden, about 1m x 5m in size. It loses most
of its leaves in the winter. It has grown a bit too big for its
location. Please see pictures:
http://i40.tinypic.com/rc4g81.jpg
http://i41.tinypic.com/nq2vsk.jpg


Can anyone tell me:
1) If I cut it back fairly brutally now, will it regrow leaves in the
spring?
2) What is it?
3) What evergreen plants I could replace it with, because it looks quite
ugly in winter.

Thanks.

 On Sat, 14 Jan 2012 12:50:54 +0000, RustyFiesta


As to what it is, I'm guessing that it's a form of lonicera. Looking
at what foliage there is, I'd also guess that it's one sick plant. The
green looks fairly healthy and that points to an evergreen but the
amount of dead stuff means the plant isn't getting enough nutrient
through to maintain foliage higher up. If it is lonicera, hard pruning
will rejuvenate it (I have one bush that I cut almost to ground every
few years and within a year it's a metre high again and about the same
across).

OTOH, whatever it is, digging it out will allow you a chance to put
something more interesting and variable into what is (at 5m) a rather
big area. You don't say where you are in the UK  so the following
little list is of plants that should do ok almost anywhere and in any
soil conditions. All are evergreen.

Berberis darwinii (yellow flowers May-June, followed by berries with
which you can make jam)
Viburnums - these flower December to April followed by dark blue
berries
Phormiums (New Zealand Flax) - these have sword like leaves, available
in a range of colours. They don't flower but you get the year round
leaf colour.
Euonymus - Evergreen varieties often have variegated foliage

There are lots more options but a selection of the above will give you
a decent colour variety for interest throughout the year. Just
remember to prune them annually so they don't get out of hand like the
plant you've currently got.

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling happily from the dryer end of Swansea Bay.

 
I used to grow it Jake, remember this is winter and almost all
lonicera have shed their leaves, it will green up again in the spring,
I had a customer that had a few as cover for partridges she was
breeding, also a good nesting site for some small birds.
Just racking my brains trying to think back about 15 years for the
name.
David @ the wet end of Swansea Bay

 On Sat, 14 Jan 2012 08:07:04 -0800 (PST), Dave Hill


The typical flowering honeysuckles shed their leaves; nitida is pure
foliage and  evergreen. Pilata is semi evergreen but wouldn't reach a
metre high.

I have a youthful hedge of nitida fertilis and several Baggesen's Gold
dotted around - it is the latter variety of which I chop one to ground
every few years. Another Gold had the chop treatment for the first
time in the autumn and is already starting to grow and leaf up again.

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling happily from the dryer end of Swansea Bay.

 
I think it's Lonicera syringantha, several of the pictures on google
show rounded leaves but this french site shows it as I had it.
http://www.detenteaujardin.com/t438-lonicera-syringantha
David