huge plant, can it be prunned back?

16 years ago

Hi,

I usually am on the hosta forum, but I have one hibiscus. I bought it approx 4 years ago at the end of summer for 1/2 off so I thought I would try it. It is planted on the south side of my house and has gotten huge! If you held the stalks straight up they would easily reach over 8-9'. Every year we have to devise a new system to hold it up. Next spring we are making a cage out of cut willows for strength. It has very large red flowers that start at the end of July and is continuing to bloom to this day.

My question is, can you prune them down in the spring and early summer as they come up to promote bushiness vs. so much height and still get the blossoms! In all reality I don't need to promote bushiness, but it just gets so tall. It is beautiful, I have people comment all the time, but sometimes I feel it looks out of control! I have never seen one in this area that is so large.

Any help from the hibiscus experts would be greatly appreciated.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (4)

beachbarbie
16 years ago
Yes, it can be pruned. It should in fact, make the plant bushier.
I know this because I accidentally broke the tallest stem of mine in half and the plant hardly skipped a beat.
Congrats on your happy hibiscus!
Barb
paulallen
16 years ago
Yes, please prune in the spring. Cut back to about two feet high and that will limit the height and the need for support.
hostafamily
Original Author
16 years ago
Thank you so much for replies!!! Can't wait until next year when it starts to come up and see what we can do!!

Thanks again
kimber_07
16 years ago
hhhmmm, in the spring? i was told to cut mine down to earth level late fall. that is what i did last year, and mine went from single stem to about a ten stem bush, still over 6 ft tall this year. although i didnt get as many blooms this y ear. and it went to seed very early, like late july, early august.