Pruning a cistus

sav4it

It's just finished flowering pretty much.
I trim each year but the bush has really gone wild. Am tempted to be very severe ie back to very little to no leaf showing. I usually back down as I'm scared of killing a gorgeous shrub in a prominent area.
If you guys can give me the confidence to put up with a temporary eye sore, I'll go for it.

ka7e

As everything seems to be flowering early this year, it's possible you may get a second flush (though it won't be anywhere near as prolific!). My OH is savage in his pruning but he does tend to do it late autumn. Cistus seems pretty forgiving and has survived many years!

Perfectspace

Hi

Cistus do not generally respond that well to hard pruning. You would probably find that the plant struggles to shoot from old wood. I usually recommend replacing plants that have become straggly/leggy.

Having said that, I also recommend trying it. After all, if you do manage to regenerate the plant, you've saved yourself the cost of buying a new one.

But, in general, prune lightly after flowering....

Perfect Space

Perfectspace

quill wrote: »

I wish I'd seen this sooner.
I have a huge cistus bush. It's dense and uniform approx 1.5m high and round but was overshadowing shrubs next to it. No idea how old it is as I didn't plant it.
I pruned it hard back to old wood just yesterday. It looks terrible. I could see tiny green shoots popping through so assumed it would grow from there and cut just above these points.Having read your post am worried now.

Well - like I said - trying is better than simply getting rid of it!

If you can see some shoots then that's a good sign. Water it really well, and add some soluble general purpose feed every 2-3 weeks.

Perfect Space