if you wish.. you can run it over with a truck.. and it wont care ....

years ago .. dad cut a 12 footer.. planted 2 feet from the house .. well.. actually he made me cut it.. lol ... to within 3 inches of the ground ...

and by the end of summer it was back to 3 to 5 feet.. if memory serves ...

do whatever you want.. whenever you want.. with this invasive weed ... in fact.. get rid of it.. and plant something better ... link ..

otherwise.. knock yoruself out and dont worry about it. ..

i think you are thinking about flowering shrubs.. which you usually do not prune until after flower... and this shrub is not known for it flowers.. so go at it ... [though of course it must flower.. to produce the invasive seeds]

good luck ..

ken in adrian mi ...

Here is a link that might be useful: link

Put a cork in the snark, Ken. It is so tiresome. how hard would it be to offer constructive suggestions, without the attitude, to a new member asking for advice ?

Mintjulep - welcome to Gardenweb! I don't know a lot about burning bushes, but they are fairly indestructible, so you probably can prune now without too much issue,

Cutting this back part way is ugly, best bet to cut whole thing down to low stumps and start it over. Will grow back pretty quickly, but in meantime you have a smaller top for some years - that looks natural, rather than lopped and stubby, with new sprouts going off in wrong directions.

If the shrub is budding out you will want to get the job done soon.