ISO Gardening Advice

[sraun]

We have three bushes in need of trimming. Two are lilacs - I know that I can trim them off at ground level and they'll grow back just fine. The third is a spirea - specifically a Snowball Bush. Anyone know if I can safely do the same thing to it?

Comments

[mishalak.livejournal.com]

Cutting down a spirea is not only going to be okay, but recommended to cut it down almost to ground level every five to eight years to renew the plant. However, if you are not having some major problem it will probably be better to not cut down either of them. The usual way to gradually renew a bush is to select either 1/4-1/3 of side branches or older stems to cut off. In the case of lilac after they bloom in the spring and in the case of spirea in the early part of spring before the sap is flowing (anywhere from about Feb-April depending on the year).

[mishalak.livejournal.com]

Also note people who recommend cutting spirea down every five to eight years tend to prefer smaller bushes. If you like a big bush, don't do it.

[laurel]

I wouldn't mess with the lilac at this time of year and I would never cut one down "to ground level".

The best time to trim a lilak is at the time of year mishalak mentioned.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

All the warnings said, my ex cut a beautiful French lilac back to the ground in midwinter one year because we were getting ready to build an addition to the house and "it's in the way." I almost murdered him.

It came back next spring with trunks three inches thick and blossoms *everywhere.*

Your spirea would be happy to be thinned out just after it blooms -- cut back a third of the stems to the ground each year.

[rmeidaking.livejournal.com]

You can safely cut back the snowball bush a lot.

Lilacs and spirea (and a bunch of other shrubbery) evolved to survive being eaten by various wild animals during the winter. You're effectively taking the ecological niche of a hungry deer. Folks who recommend trimming just after the plant blooms are doing so in order to make their garden look better. You can really do the trimming at any time between when the blooms stop, and when green shoots start to appear in the spring.

[sraun]

Thanks!

Part of our problem here is that all three of them have just plain gotten too big!, and there's a central structure of (apparently) dead branches that we can't easily get to. I know the lilacs will come back with enthusiasm - when we had the big tree taken out of the back yard a couple of years back, they trimmed one of the lilacs back at the same time (mid-summer, IIRC) - it was mostly back within 18 months.