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santamiller

Proper End of Year Hot Lips Haircut?

santamiller
9 years ago

This was my first year of keeping Hot Lips. It did pretty well, nice blooms in the early summer and is starting to bloom again since it has slightly cooled. During the hot part of the summer blooms were slow. It is now a couple of feet tall and pretty out of shape. What is the proper way to cut it back after the cold weather sets in? To me it looks like it needs cut back to the ground if possible to let it reshape but I wan't to see how others in 8b and other warmer areas maintained their plants. This is an in-ground plant, not potted.

Thanks

This post was edited by santamiller on Mon, Oct 13, 14 at 8:07

Comments (5)

  • rich_dufresne
    9 years ago

    It's not necessary to cut it flush to the groung - leave at least 4 inches up to 12 inches of woody stems for next yeat. Since you are in zone 8b, there should be enough time for you to get a good flush of new growth.

    Also, if you have only one, big stem coming out of the ground, don't cut it back, because there are likely no underground nodes to send out new shoots next spring. Ideally, you will have many shoots right now that have sent up woody stems.

    Layering the stem radially from the crown is a good way to start new plants for next spring, since the stems will root where they lay along the ground. When the new growth starts in the spring, you can divide the offshoots for new plants.

  • santamiller
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks, Rich. I have at least a dozen stems in a 6 or 8 inch radius.

    Understood on the leaving 4-12 inches for next year but I'm not clear what you mean by "layering the stem radically from the crown". I know what the crown is but what do you mean by layering?

    Also, in South Texas it is still warm and with active plant growth, so I was wondering about the proper time to trim Hot Lips? Would that be after the active growing season in the early winter or as new growth begins to appear in the early spring?

  • rich_dufresne
    9 years ago

    Layering is the process of pulling supple stems down to the ground, parallel if possible, and placing a clip or weight on it to force roots to develop, Theoretically, you can later cut the stem between each node with roots and dig up each resulting piece as a new plant.

    This is an emulation of what happens in nature, and makes these plants true perennials. After 3 to 7 years, the old crown becomes congested with much dead tissue that will bring about the rotting out of the remaining healthy vascular system. The new plant has an opportunity also of developing a new root system and search out new sources of mineral nutrients and water.

  • gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
    9 years ago

    I would be inclined to wait until spring before cutting back. Think of it more as a woody subshrub than a true perennial. Cutting back woody based shrubs at this time of year can lead to some cold damage on exposed tissue.

    Mine is going on five years old and is a significant presence :-) I cut it back hard last spring, taking off about 8-10" overall and thining out a lot of dinky, twiggy interior growth. The plant grew all that back and a bit more this season, now measuring about 4-5' across and about 2 1/2" tall. And still blooming like crazy.

    btw, mine has layered a few stems all on its own.

    Oddly, the flowering starts out almost entirely red in spring, transitions to the bicolored red and white through most of the summer and now is almost entirely white. It's done this same color change for the past few years.

  • santamiller
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Lots of good info here. Thanks to both of you. Rich, I'll definitely give that a try. I do have some other plants which have done that on their own but never thought about "forcing" it. Very interesting.

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