Pruning Spirea
Tips On Pruning Spirea
Pruning Spirea is important to keep this fast growing bush from taking over your garden and to help it to maintain healthy growing for full bloom potential. There are over 80 species of Spirea with dozens of varieties in each species, many of these are hybrids. These varieties can differ in plant size, blooming colors and blooming season. Spireas are a member of the rose family, and their heavily scented flowers are popular with gardeners. They are rather hardy plants to grow and other that some minimal pruning once a year, they usually require little maintenance.
To start, be sure to plant your Spirea plants well spaced out from one another as they do not like to be overcrowded. They prefer well-draining soil with a good amount of organic material in it, but will grow pretty well in lower quality soils such as clay filled soils. This is another reason they are popular garden plants. Spirea also doesn’t require regular watering and are drought-resistant. Planting them full sunlight will produce more compact plants with more blooms, although the yellow variations seem to do pretty well in light shade conditions.
Spirea plants have small leaves growing on dainty twiggy branches. Pruning Spirea plants depends on the type and variety of the plant itself. Some Spirea bloom in the early spring and others bloom in the summer. It is important to know which variety of Spirea you have in order to properly prune it. Pruning Spirea plants that bloom in the spring should be performed right after they have flowered. As these plants grow older they become more woody, which means they are less productive bloomers. Start pruning this variety in the base, by removing the oldest woody stems. This will encourage new growth from the center base of the plant and help it to maintain its proper shape. Summer blooming Spireas should be pruned in early spring as the blooms will form on this season’s new growth. Their growth will really take off in the summer so you will want to remove a large amount of last year’s growth or at least ½ of the entire plant. When pruning any type of plant, be sure to use sharp shears to avoid splitting or crushing the stems and destroying them.
It you would like to shape your Spirea plant, you can cut the thicker pencil sized branches all the way down to 6 inches from the base and then shape the top as you want. This will create an attractive wispy look. If your Spirea has bulb-based flowers at the base which are fading and are hard to see, you can spruce up the entire plant by cutting the base down to exposed wood. This way new growth and flowers will be easier to see and will grow stronger. You can also use this to create a mushroom shape if you prefer. Neglected Spirea plants can grow out of control and become too wide at the base. This creates a less healthy looking plant that may over-shadow the surrounding plants. If you want to make the diameter of the base smaller you can simply cut the entire plant all the way back to 6 inches from the ground.
As the plant grows back, you can maintain it into a manageable shape. It will also be healthier and will produce more blooms for you. By properly pruning your Spirea plants you will ensure they stay the size and shape that you want, and they will continue to grow lots of healthy stems and produce many fragrant flowers for you to enjoy. A small amount of work each spring or summer will produce plenty of rewards for your garden.