The Pruning Mistake You Can Make With Chinese Fringe Flowers That Reduces Blooms

Don't be fooled by the chic look of the tassel-like blooms on Chinese fringe flowers (Loropetalum)! These plants are a wonderful choice for beginner gardeners, due to their low-maintenance nature. Suitable for USDA Hardiness Zones 7 through 10, Chinese fringe flowers are naturally found in habitats like woodlands and thickets and are native to China, Japan, and Southeast Asia. Their gorgeous flowers are joined by crinkly foliage that can be found in hues of green, deep purple, and burgundy. After you've decided where to plant your Chinese fringe flowers for beautiful blooms, you can expect this shrub to flower each year in late winter or spring. Come fall, you may want to grab your shears and prune it back to a reasonable size. In reality, you should hold off, as pruning in the fall will reduce the amount of blooms for next season.

Like so many things, there is an art to pruning. While it's important for a myriad of reasons — shaping, improving air circulation and light exposure, reducing disease, stimulating new growth — there are also mistakes to avoid while pruning your plants, and you should be very intentional about when and how you prune. Chinese fringe flowers bloom on old wood (or the previous season's growth), so if you prune them in the fall, you will cut down on the number of flower buds on the plant. Also, since pruning can generate growth, you can trigger new buds that won't be able to withstand the harsh and freezing temperatures of winter. Instead, it's best to wait until late spring to prune your Chinese fringe flower just after its flowers have completed blooming.

If you've provided your Chinese fringe flower with the best growing conditions, from planting it in an area that receives morning sun and afternoon shade to keeping the soil fertile and moist with proper drainage, your plant should be in excellent shape. In general, Chinese fringe flowers are moderate growers. Depending on whether you have an upright or ground cover variety, these plants can get between 1 and 15 feet tall. Unless you're using your Chinese fringe flower as formal hedging or topiaries, regular pruning is not a strict requirement, though it's perfectly okay to remove any dead or diseased branches as needed. But in general, it's best to let your Chinese fringe flower do its thing until springtime.

Some Chinese fringe flowers can flower twice a year. In February, they will start flowering on old wood, signaling the start of the early spring bloom. This lasts for a few weeks. After that, your shrub may experience a second, smaller bloom throughout the summer and fall on new wood that has just formed. 

In order to avoid distressing your plant during its blooming cycle, do not prune until after it has finished flowering in the early spring. It's also important to avoid aggressive pruning. If you wait too long after the early bloom to begin the process, you will risk losing some of the summer and fall blooms, since you will be cutting back the new wood. By pruning in the spring, your plant will have plenty of time to recover. Also, its new growth won't be affected by freeze or hot weather.

Chinese fringe flowers are prized for their free-flowing shape, marked by a layered branching habit. With that in mind, try to stagger the lengths of your cuts to maintain your shrub's elegant shape. If you prune too much, you may ruin the plant's natural, vase-like form. Once you've gathered your pruning tools (a sharp pair of bypass hand pruners will do the trick), it's best to decide how much you want to remove before you start cutting. Unless you're dealing with an out-of-control and overgrown shrub, you should only remove about one-fourth to one-third of your plant at a time. And to ensure that your pruning shears work better than ever, do not forget to disinfect them to avoid the spread of disease.

To begin, remove any dead branches. Make sure to cut them at their origin point. Then you can move on to damaged branches, which should be cut an inch or two below the break. Otherwise, if you haphazardly cut the tips of the branches, you might cause more stress to your plant rather than helping it. 

From there, spend time trimming any stray or straggly branches that are sprouting beyond your shrub's natural shape. This includes branches that cross against each other, as the friction can create weak areas that are more susceptible to insects and disease. You can also use thinning cuts to help with airflow and allow more sunlight to reach the plant. As long as you prune during the optimal time, your Chinese fringe flower will regrow better than ever.