How and When to Prune Spirea to Boost Blooms

Find out when to prune spirea, depending on bloom time, and get tips for pruning these shrubs properly.

Spirea is a group of hardworking flowering shrubs that grow with gusto in all kinds of conditions. With all that growth, these plants benefit from an annual trim, but when to prune spirea? It depends on when your spirea blooms. And how to prune it depends on how overgrown your shrub is, and what your goal is. Find all the details for pruning your specific type of spirea here.

How to Prune Spring-Flowering Spirea

Spring-blooming bridal wreath and Vanhoutte spirea are most easily recognized by their bold fragrance in mid spring. These old-fashioned plants are returning to popularity thanks to cascading branches covered with intensely fragrant white flowers.

Bridal wreath spirea and Vanhoutte spirea shrubs have a fountainlike appearance. They stand 4 to 8 feet tall and are exceptionally easy to grow in full sun and a variety of soils. Because they thrive in all kinds of growing conditions, they can quickly outgrow their spot in the landscape and take on an unkept, gangly appearance. Annual pruning keeps them in shape.

Related: 18 Spring-Flowering Shrubs to Add to Your Yard for Early Color

1. Prune after flowering.

Wait until late spring or early summer to prune spring-blooming spirea. The best time to prune is right after the flowers fade. Pruning after bloom spurs the plants to produce new growth loaded with flower buds for the following spring. Don’t trim spring-flowering spirea in winter. Pruning in late winter or early spring will cut off developing buds; the plants will not bloom in spring, but they will produce a flower show the following year.

2. Remove the oldest canes.

Annual pruning is essential to maintaining the gracefully mounded shape of spring-blooming spireas. Cut one-third of the oldest stems in the center of the shrub back to ground level every spring. Use loppers to reach inside the robust shrubs and access the large woody stems.

Related: The 8 Best Loppers of 2024 to Keep Your Yard Manicured

3. Cut out dead and damaged wood.

Scan the plant for dead, weak, and broken branches. Cut the damaged branches back to ground level. If you are pruning before leaves emerge, it can be challenging to determine if a leafless branch is dead or alive.

Tips

To tell whether a branch is dead or alive, scratch the top layer of bark with your thumbnail. The stem is alive if the underlying tissue is green or yellow-green. It is likely dead if it is brown or cream and the branch feels brittle.

4. Rejuvenate as needed.

If a spring-blooming spirea is wildly overgrown, it can be cut back to 1 foot tall. This severe pruning method is called rejuvenation or renewal pruning. Not all woody shrubs will tolerate such severe pruning, but spirea usually can. Expect a spring-blooming spirea to return to its mature size about three years after rejuvenation pruning.

5. Consider the growing location.

If a bridal wreath or Vanhoutte spirea has an exceptionally open or loose form, it is probably suffering from insufficient sunlight. No amount of pruning can compensate for the lack of sunlight. The plant will continue growing in a gangly, unkept way until it is moved to a location with at least 8 hours of direct sunlight.

How to Prune Summer-Flowering Spirea

Summer-flowering spireas begin blooming in early summer and continue flowering sporadically until frost. Many varieties also boast brilliant fall color. Growing about 2 to 4 feet tall and wide, these tough plants grow in poor soil, heat, humidity, cold, and drought. Japanese spirea, birchleaf spirea, and bumalda spirea are popular members of the summer-flowering group. Regular pruning keeps the twiggy growth of these fast-growing shrubs in check and helps them develop a pleasing shape.

1. Prune in late winter or early spring.

Summer-flowering spireas bloom on buds produced in the spring. Prune plants in late winter or early spring before growth begins so you can enjoy a flower show in early summer. The leafless branches in late winter make it easy to see the overall shape of the plant.

2. Remove dead and broken branches.

Cut away all dead and broken twigs at their base. Don’t hesitate to cut stems all the way back to ground level. Summer-blooming spirea quickly regrows from the crown of the plant.

3. Prune to create a pleasing shape.

Using hedge shears or bypass pruners, cut stems back several inches to give the plant a pleasing shape. Use the available space in the surrounding landscape as a guide to how much to cut back summer-blooming spirea, remembering that plants can put on 12 to 24 inches of new growth in a year.

Related: The 8 Best Hedge Trimmers for Perfectly Manicured Shrubs

4. Cut it back significantly every two or three years.

Many types of summer-blooming spirea thrive when cut back to about 6 inches tall in late winter every two or three years. Because they grow so vigorously, these shrubs quickly take on a lanky, overgrown appearance. Cutting plants back to 6 inches tall promotes dense growth and a compact form. If you are hesitant to cut the entire shrub back, remove the oldest, woodiest stems to ground level to encourage dense new growth.

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