Please cross your fingers for my ancient Daphne bholua, which I've just cut back very, very hard. I'll post here in due course to say what the result is, in the hope that the information may be of use to others who might at some point be worrying about hacking a big D. bholua back hard.
The variety in question is 'Jaqueline Postill', which in my experience can get very big and take up a lot more space than expected, especially if it suckers, which mine all do.
The one cut back had reached nearly 4m tall by almosyt 3m across (about 12 ft by 8ft) and was becoming a real problem as I'd planted it near the front door for the winter scent. It had multiple stems, all very thick, the thickest about 12cm across (4in) at the base.
The height was reduced by half and a number of thick stems (up to 10 cm thick, or 3in) were sawn through about 0.5 m (18in) above ground level to reduce the width.
I would have liked to have done the cutting back in the Spring, to allow plenty of time for regrowth before the Autumn frosts, but didn't get around to it until now (early August) and it was a case of having to do it when I had the time.
So, fingers crossed. But at least I now have some daphne logs for the fire this winter, an unusual luxury I would imagine.
