Many times, I find that the winter does a natural trimming where I live. I grow mine hard and the dry hot summer reduces them a bit naturally. They looses their small end growth. I have actually never trimmed them on purpose. They just grow wild. I would think that Feb - March would be a good time for cutting back..

My experience with black foot daisies is that they don't recover after being cut back. But unlike Mara's hard-grown blackfoot daisies, my year old plants have been growing in improved soil, are watered occasionally, and have gotten quite wide and large by the time they look gangly during or after winter.

So now I pull them up and replant in the fall using $2.50 four inch pots of young plants. The young ones survive the winter just fine and grow quickly in the spring. I give them a little time-release fertilizer pellets in spring and they put on a marvelous show all summer.

When I pull the gangly ones the roots come out easily and seem to be just barely there. It seems as if at some point they have suffered root rot.

On the other hand I have some that have volunteered in the hell strip out front so have been grown hard, have stayed small, not even making a good mound, and those last for several years.

They naturally grow in tough conditions. I've seen beautiful compact little mounds of blackfoot daisies growing along road sides in the Hill Country.

I'll be interested to hear other's experiences.

Excuse my ignorance here, but "grown hard" is a term that's new to me. Does that basically mean just growing on its own without any additional pampering?

Mine have definitely been babied-improved soil and once a week watering. I've read that can reduce their lifespan. We'll see I guess.

The ones on my hell strip are neat little mounds. I see no need to mess with those. Its the ones by my front door that are all floppy and leggy. I guess I'll try pruning them in a couple months and if they don't make it, I'll try something else!

Yes, you got it about the expression 'grown hard'.

A discussion on cutting back Blackfoot daisies is on today's PBS Central Texas Gardener. This advice is from the blog.

Central Texas Gardener Blog

"On blackfoot daisy: with its thin root system, pruning now [late winter] can harm it if we get cold, gray and rainy days. She recommends cutting back when it's actively growing and removing no more than half the foliage at one time. Plus, it’s better to prune often rather than too much at one time."

You can watch Central Texas Gardener shows online anytime and on Saturdays via your local PBS station.

Watch online

BJB we'll be interested in what your experience is in cutting them back.