I got all my roses pruned back in January, which was the appropriate time to get it done. I also got the two large crepe myrtles in my front garden pruned in early March. I also gave my Rose of Sharon a work over to open it up and get rid of straggly branches and I got my two butterfly bushes reduced and ready for a new season.

However, I discovered a few of my perennials had been neglected for way too long. Two of these were salvias that I planted the first year at my new home. Two new ones replaced salvias that had died in my front yard outside my office window.  

This replacement attracted lots of hummingbirds and thus provided a very enjoyable view of flowers and hummers at work. I have other salvias and I normally prune them in the early spring but I neglected these two for four years. I think in part because they bloomed nicely each year so I didn’t pay attention. Wow, were they a mess when I looked closely. There were branches low to the ground that stretched out four feet from the base and had green shoots only at the tips. There was also a lot of deadwood from the overcrowding that occurred. 

Pruning the larger of these two salvias took over 3 hours, mainly because I had to cut up the many branches removed into smaller pieces to get them into my garden tote. Pruning required four fully packed totes of cut up branches which filled my large waste can to the brim.

Now that is really a neglected plant, but it now has been reduced to fewer growth points which should invigorate it for the coming summer season. The other salvia was somewhat smaller and it only required about an hour of pruning and only two garden totes to the garbage can. 

Other long-neglected plants were my two tropical potted hibiscuses which I have carefully kept alive by keeping them in a greenhouse in the winter for about 10 years. I can’t remember the last time I pruned them but I knew they would benefit from pruning.

I consulted Google to find information on how to prune them and found a YouTube segment recorded in Hawaii that showed me what to do. The pruning was severe and I followed suit on my own hibiscus as per the before and after pictures shown here. I think I did it right and time will tell if I get more vigorous growth and blooms. 

Another pruning job of a perennial that I neglected was on California fuchsia (Epilobium canum). This is a late summer fall-blooming ground covering native plant that is quite drought-resistant and has orange blooms that can attract hummingbirds.

The previous owner of my home planted a large patch of it in the front native plant garden and I enjoy the fall color. If not pruned it becomes a tangle of long 18-24 inch long stems. It's recommended to prune it back to the ground after fall bloom.   

Unfortunately, it has not been pruned in all the years I have been here and I didn’t awake to the fact that it needed pruning until this spring, but I decided better late than never. Hence, I set about shortening the plant to ground level.

First, the landscape maintenance man shortened it using a powered hedge trimmer and he removed the plants to ground level. I am hoping it will recover as this was done a bit late in the season with new growth already on its way. Time will tell how well it recovers. 

Consulting a resource on pruning is always a good thing to do before you undertake it. Hence it is important to know the name of your plant so you can find the specific information on pruning.

I have always consulted a pruning manual to make sure I am doing the pruning correctly and at the right time of the year. A general rule is that you can prune early blooming shrubs after bloom because the flower buds develop on ‘old wood’ of the previous growing season, e.g., Weigela and Spirea.

Later blooming shrubs that flower on ‘new wood’ can be pruned in late winter e.g., butterfly bush, Buddleia.

Happy careful pruning of your perennials and shrubs. 

 If you have a gardening-related question you can contact the UC Master Gardeners at (209) 953-6112. More information can be found on our website: sjmastergardeners.ucanr.edu/CONTACT_US/.