Be honest, do you or do you not prune...

[BarefootGardener]

...your forsythia, spirea, mock orange, etc? All those lovely weeping, flowering shrubs, do you prune them or let them stay natural? If you have to prune to renew or rejuvenate, how do you prune?

[msmacgyver]

I clip the spent blooms off my spirea. Both so they’ll re-bloom and to keep them relatively short. My forsythia I have espalier against my neighbor’s carport. My goal is to have it long enough that I will soon be able to cover an arbor with it.
So what do you do?
Bernie

[mickeys_rose]

I don't have anything but the Spirea and I only prune old growth or branches that I don't want to thin out the bush. I believe that Spirea only bloom on second year growth. If pruned wrong you could set blooming back.

[msmacgyver]

MR I have no idea which spirea I have. It's another rescued plant my neighbor was thowing away. I dead head it and it reblooms for me. Not as full as it does the first time around but it does bloom again.
Bernie

[BarefootGardener]

MR I have no idea which spirea I have. It's another rescued plant my neighbor was thowing away. I dead head it and it reblooms for me. Not as full as it does the first time around but it does bloom again.
Bernie

I've never tried deadheading spirea before. You are talking about bridal wreath spirea, right? How exciting--2 crops of blooms! It's one of favorite shrubs and I'd like it to last longer.

[Sheila K]

I absolutely do not trim. In my opinion if they were meant to be neat and tiny then they would be. I jokingly call them "wild things" because of the way they grow.So I say let them be wild.

[msmacgyver]

I do know it's not bridal wreath. My neighbor has one of those. Mine has pink blooms. One has green leaves the other had kind of bronze leaves. I love them so much it's worth nipping off the dead blooms to get more. I'll post some pics when they bloom.

[BarefootGardener]

Great. You're probably talking about pink spirea--I think I have one of those somewhere around here. It looks something like this, except mine has the greener leaves vs. gold shown here:

http://www.youcanlearnseries.com/Lan...ameSpirea2.jpg

I didn't know about deadheading them, but I sure will try it this summer. They are blooming here right now.

[Mandy]

It depends on the shrub. Some shrubs such as our Rose of Sharon and Crepe Myrtle bloom on new wood so they get prunes somewhat in March. Our Spire gets pruned severely mid season and reblooms then. Forsythias, Lilacs, Oakleaf Hydrangea we let alone. Hubby only prunes Forsythia when it needs to have old growth removed to fill out. But ours are yrs. old so in that case they needed it. But that's not an every yr. thing. They make a great privacy hedge, lol!

[troublesmom]

My feelings exactly. I don't like to prune my azaleas either, let them grow natural.

I absolutely do not trim. In my opinion if they were meant to be neat and tiny then they would be. I jokingly call them "wild things" because of the way they grow.So I say let them be wild.

[smurfy]

I don't like trimming anything unless it poses a threat to people, such as trees in power lines.