Rose of Sharon Advice / Rain and Wind Damage?

[climbingmonkey24]

Appears to be damaged from rain / wind. Definitely overgrown but you can see how bent over it is. Any ideas on trying to save it? Tying / anchoring it to something to stand it upright was discussed.

How much do you think could safely be taken off this? I have one at my house but I keep on top of it so it doesn’t get this overgrown.

 

[Njdelaney]

I had one fail terribly across the street from me, like a complete fail, everything on the ground. I took 5-6 feet off the top and it is totally fine. This was over a month ago. It even pushed out a few flowers. I think I posted pictures in the "Today" thread a few weeks back for reference.

 

[Reach]

If I remember correctly, Rose of Sharon are great candidates for rejuvenation pruning; where you cut off all the larger wood to near ground level, leaving the small shoots to grow a new shrub. In my experience, they are pretty tolerant of hard pruning and come back very nicely. So that being said, hack away!

 

[Njdelaney]

Today thread, page #83, post #1643 & #1644. You can take off alot and not have a problem.

 

[moss]

Rose of Sharon can take a beat down and come right back. To relieve the immediate problem I would prune it back aporox. 3’ from the drooping blossoming ends then look at a longer term pruning strategy to keep the tops much lower. This years growth and flowering weight pushed it over the edge.
-AJ

 

[JeffGu]

Yeah, they're like viburnum, lilacs, etc. and I've cut them down a foot above the ground. Two or three years later, you'd never know they had been touched.

 

[climbingmonkey24]

Would you suggest pruning this now, after it looses its flowers, in the Fall? I usually do mine in the Spring I believe, but because this one is really in need of some care I wonder if it can be sooner?

Also, if taking a lot off like suggested to try and correct the lean, would that mean the client should not expect blooming next year because of so much being taking off?

 

[JeffGu]

Correct. You can prune it any time of year, but it won't flower on the new growth in spring.

 

[evo]

Stub that thing off between ankle and knee high. I personally would wait until mid February, the plant is dormant, but the spring growth flush is right around the corner (my area). You do run a slightly higher risk of killing it this time of year (but I highly doubt you would even phase it) but it’s going to look like crap until it starts the spring flush..