I would prune for Shape

Luis, the flowers emerge greenish but with sun the flowers begin to turn white, then pink and by fall it turns a purple/pink color. It’s really beautiful spring through fall. I trim back the weak and downward branches almost to the main branches on the tree. One year I trimmed it back so hard I thought I had killed it! It came back better the following year! James, making sure you trim back very long and/or weak branches is the best way to prevent flopping. Although a heavy rain will cause the branches to flop a bit, but that is only temporary. Although, I have been known to go out after a hard rain and shake off the water on the blooms (hahaha). I also prune before any snowfall because a heavy wet snow can break branches if the blooms are left on. debra

Yes, there’s a new deck there. Since the big tree limb fell several years back, it had pot holed the grass badly. With my recent hip surgeries, I had been concerned about falling. We talked about leveling the ground, but it slops downward so badly, it seemed easier and less expensive to put a deck there. debra

djacobz568sewi - re: improve blooms. LL is pretty mantainence free. minimal to no fertz, doesn't need much water, etc. Is it crowded - too close to neighboring plants. IMO, it's all about roots like all shrubs. Root competion kinda dictates the size and growth. My oldest one is actually a wee smaller annually on width. I suspect it's a bit planted too close to another shrub. Even ones planted 3-4 years later, is larger than my -oldest one. Bloom sizes are the same/similar. Just overall yearly growth, it doesn't get crazy wide like