Hi! I don't know a lot about gardening.... I was wondering how to prune this. I believe it is a spirea. In my mind, I imagined just cutting all the stems back. I pruned it last year before bloom, and it got wild. I pruned the ones next to it, and they just stayed small and round.
Thanks for your help!
Here is a close up...
Easy way to remember....Spring flowering shurbs get pruned after they bloom, fall blooming shrubs get pruned in the spring
If you know for sure this is a Spirea, I would cut it down to a few inches of the ground. It will regrow in a more manageable shape. I've cut mine down in the beginning of Spring, and it bounced back nicely with flowers in the early Summer.
Looks more like a hydrangea from the bark.
The spent flowers don't look like Hydrangea to me--they look like a better match for Spiraea.
I pruned my spirea in late summer by removing all the older wood to "rejuvenate" it, and open up the plant. Didn't seem to make a difference to the flowers, and its just as tangly as before. Kind of a waste of time.
My other one I just cut back wickedly because it was too big. It also didn't seem to mind. Maybe I just got lucky. They seem pretty hardy. Never thought of cutting it to the ground. Good luck with yours. They're so pretty when they bloom.
Thank you all, I have pruned it now, cut it back a lot! I pruned it last year before bloom, and it still grew out of control. Maybe I will trim it back this year if it starts to go crazy again.
the cluster of tiny flower heads looks more like Spirea, Hydrangea I would think all have much larger flower heads even when dried as the picture shows.
I just chop these shrubs down every second year and this opens up the center of the shrub to allow light and sun into the new growth, I love these shrubs and in one part of the garden have a low growing hedge from these, the variegated types are not as large and even after about ten years they are only now on the list of things to prune, I do however snip off the dead flower heads each autumn and maybe nip out a few branches as I go.
Good luck. WeeNel.
Thanks WeeNel.
I was just out looking at it today, and there are all kinds of buds on the branches that remain. Exciting!!
