These Spirea have gone crazy after pruning, now what?
Illini Fan
2 years ago
I cut these to the ground in March and as you can see they’ve responded nicely! I do like how they hide the landing of our front porch but they are a bit out of control. Is this really a good spot for these? I’d like to clean them up a bit but don’t know when to do so. If I do move them this fall does anyone have a recommendation for something that would stay more compact, but keep its leaves in the Winter? I’m in NW Illinois, zone 5.
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
2 years agoIllini Fan
2 years agoRelated Discussions
When and how should I prune Neon Flash spirea?
Comments (7)Ken, the new enemy of plantkind on The Neighbor's Plot side is the punk 20ish son (or illegal tenant?) of the Chinese upstairs next door neighbor. Of the Friday night knock-down drag-out fights with his significant other. Of the chintzy 99 cent store signs he stuck all over the garden I had just created. He is a pig, leaving cigarette butts all over their side of the lawn and some in my garden. The first time I saw a filthy disgusting cigarette butt in my garden, my ears laid back, my claws came out and my howls could be heard for blocks. But I decided to take the kindness route. What do you do with "lost" objects? You return them, of course! I meticulously picked up the 20+ butts this pig left all over the lawn and garden and "returned" them onto the porch. There is now a growing and disgusting collection of cigarette butts all around the ground on their side of the porch---you don't think the father (or illegal landlord?) of this punk could bother to stoop down, gather the butts and toss 'em into the garbage can right there, do you? Naw. He just kicks them off the porch onto the ground all around the porch and on the ground leading up from the hill to the side of the porch. What a comforting and soothing sight upon one's return home, I tell ya. It is indescribably disgusting. Now, about my little spirea shrub--which happens to be planted in The Neighbor's Plot garden. You can see where the heavier canes end and newer, slighter growth began last fall. The newer growth is what it accomplished before our first freeze last fall. I was thinking of trimming it down to a bit below where last year's new growth begins, to stimulate some heavy new growth this year. THIS is the shrub I planted to act as a sunscreen for the delicate Midas Touch heuchie I planted there. It seemed to work, as the Midas Touch began to send up nicer looking leaves which were not sunburned after I planted Ms. Spirea. The heavy snows actually removed some of the soil around one of the hostas' roots. The roots are now partially exposed, along with what should imminently be pips. Can hardly wait to see my little guys spring into action! Patience, after all that snow, is a rare commodity....See MoreNeed help with pruning instructions for spirea.
Comments (3)Often when shrubs grow the energy goes to the buds at the growing tip. When you look at your picture you can see how there's a lot happening at the tips - and the stems are just holding it all up. In amongst all that there will be new sprouts. You can usually tell which they are because the wood is a different colour - often more brown-y than the old wood. That's your 'last year's wood' in the making. That's the wood that will be using summer to create buds for flowers. I suspect the main reason it says to leave the pruning to spring is so you can also deal with any frost/snow damage. If you take a look at the old stems you might find little (seriously little) buds along the bare length. They're dormant. However, if the growing tip was damaged - or removed by a pruner - then those buds would get the chemical message to start into growth. The new wood that they produce will usually be shorter and slimmer than any suckers or sprouts starting from the base. However, they will also produce flowers when the wood is old enough. If you've decided to have a stockier shrub than the one in the picture then you would cut back the old stems (at least some of them) 'hard' to a height that suits you so they'll resprout from lower down. You'd leave your new wood to mature and set buds. You'd sacrifice some of your new wood up there on the tips to bring the height of the bush down. Take a couple of years to do this - part this; part next, so you still get the flowers you enjoy (though perhaps not as many as you'd like.) It might also be useful to apply a serving of good compost and/or a helping of a general purpose fertiliser to promote the growth of new wood. If you have reliable water over summer do that earlier rather than later. It's vital that the new wood has plenty of time to harden and get set for winter, otherwise the frost will wreak havoc with those juicy sprouts....See MorePruning spirea?
Comments (21)Ordinarily, you can cut back any odd branch whenever you find it. However, these are tiny, so I would leave everything as is. If we have a winter like last year, the more branches you have, the more the crown will be protected. If you look at them closely, you will find the old wood that has grown previously at the nursery before they got to your yard. It is usually a grayish color while the newer wood is reddish-brown. Do not prune it now as that will encourage new growth which you do not want going into winter. Wait until spring and then prune. I would give a light pruning as they are very young plants. The nice thing about spireas is they are great growers and very forgiving of awkward pruning. (Last winter, there was a small fire in my daughter's landscaping. One of her spireas was burned to a crisp. It came up just fine in the spring!) I think you will be surprised at how quickly they grow into their expected height and shape. Linda...See Morehow to prune spirea?
Comments (13)If left unpruned for several years spireas become leggy in any location, sunny or shady. Pruning to 6-8" AND removing completely older thicker stems in a spring will rejuvenate plant. Strong existing root system will produce a lot of new growth and in no time shrub will be of the same statue as before, only better looking and more floriferous. You could transplant it at any time of the year when grounds are workable. This is very forgiving and tough plant. To transplant it in a spring will be just more convinient, it will be leafless and you'll see a branch structure more clearly. Transplant and then prune. If you want to transplant it now, take it out of the ground, remove thickest stems to the base (will be easier to do when out of the ground), but leave at least 1/2 of the greenery on, plant, water and re-prune in a spring. Re: sun-shade situation. Spireas will live and may even flower in light shade, but they are really sun lovers and perform best in close to full sun locations. Why would you want to plant it in a shade knowing beforehand that it will perform at maximum of 1/3 of its capacity? There are many shade loving plants to take that place and be happy there. Moving from one shady place to another one wouldn't do anything good to YOU....See Morediggerdee zone 6 CT
2 years agogracie01 zone5 SW of Chicago
2 years agoIllini Fan
2 years ago
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gracie01 zone5 SW of Chicago