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Spiraea japonica

Red mapleRed maple Posts: 1,138
in Plants
Does any does anyone know the best time to give this plant a good prune? 
At the moment, it has just about finished flowering and the flowers on it are now browning, so my guess is it needs a light prune in the following couple of weeks to take off the dead blooms and then a heavier prune early spring? It’s put on quite a growth spurt, so is in need of a good tidy up, I’m just not sure when is the best time - I read conflicting advice online.
I don’t want to kill it off by pruning at the wrong time, but I do want to reduce its size.
Thank you.

Posts

  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    I cut mine back when the faded flowers start to look a bit manky.
    I cut them right off at the base.
    The brown flowerheads look ok at the mo and seem to blend in with all the other brown flowerheads I have atm thanks to the heatwaves :)
    I'll probably cut them back sometime in Sept, but it's fine to do it anytime you like 

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • BiljeBilje Posts: 811
    I’m in NE England. I just remove dead flowers when they’ve gone over and if I can be bothered. I cut hard back Feb/March and they grow away fine. If I hard pruned them now I’d worry the new growth might get frosted over winter. 
  • Red mapleRed maple Posts: 1,138
    Thank you both.
    Yes, I’ll probably give them a good haircut in the coming few weeks to take off the faded blooms and then do the harder pruning early spring. I’m a bit concerned about hard frosts causing damage if I do the harder prune too early, too, @Bilje.
    There are a lot of brown flower heads about aren’t there @Pete.8  ;)
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    @Red maple I think we need to look at some of these brown flower heads in a different wat this year some do have a beauty of their own and really add structure to a winter garden.
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
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