Pruning Bottlebrush

kylith

I have a bottlebrush bush that's doing rather well in the garden. It could probably use a trim. I've seen some sites advise just trimming behind where the flowers were, and others recommend cutting the whole thing right back to the ground. Does anyone have any experience?

magicbastarder

i have experience, does not mean it's to be followed - i did it over two years. the first year i cut half of the branches back, almost to the ground, and the second year i cut the other half back. the plant is still alive, and seems healthy enough.

kylith

Any time of year you'd recommend for doing it?

magicbastarder

i did both prunings during the spring - just because that's usually the time of year for pruning, but that may not be the best for bottlebrush specifically.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Yes, early spring before growth starts. It only needs dead wood removed and overcrowding sorted.

mel.b

kylith wrote: »

I have a bottlebrush bush that's doing rather well in the garden. It could probably use a trim. I've seen some sites advise just trimming behind where the flowers were, and others recommend cutting the whole thing right back to the ground. Does anyone have any experience?

Did your bottle brush flower for long? I only got a week from mine - although this is it's first year in the garden. It has grown so much when i look back at the photos i took when I planted it. I'm from Australia and remember them having a much longer flowering season.

kylith

Probably about a week or two. It's probably cos we donnt' get enough sun for them to flower properly.