You might have had better results if you fertilized and watered extra after the pruning. I certainly have.

I had a few scraggly flowers on multiblue, but they were on the oldest stem, not the ones I cut. It did get some new growth and it set a few buds, but that was right before it snowed.

correction: i did water and fertilize right after pruning, then nothing extra besides watering in dry spells and compost in july.

think i'll get better results if i just hard prune to the ground every year or do the graduated 3-level pruning that i think janet, you mentioned..

the growing season in my micro-neck of the woods must be too short or too harsh..

I hard pruned 4 of my type 2's late winter to the ground for the first time. They were 10 years old and had bare legs. I wanted to encourage new shoots and lower blooms. Only 1, Wada's primrose is blooming ok. I don't think Nelly Moser, Marie Bouselet or General Sikorski will bloom well until next year. They only have 1 bud. Maybe I will get more blossoms later in the season. I think for me in my northern climate cutting them back is going to cause me to loose a year in blooms. It will probably be worth it in the long run, as I will have a shorter, more compact plant that will bloom lower for years to come.

I didn't do any drastic pruning. Most of my clems are quite new. Of the older ones, I trimmed Asao back a little, and got one flower on August 26th. Marie Boiselotte had 3 flowers on 8/6. 07 was the first year Sugar Candy bloomed in early July. I think I just deadheaded the two flowers, and got another one on 10/22.

All of these are growing great this year. I'll probably be a bit more daring this year, as many of the newer ones are in the leap year.

Marie

marie, are yours in full sun?

flowerfan, are you no longer in WA? one of my sweet autumns gave me a cold shoulder this year because hubby went out and pruned it in december. it's only just sending out 1 ft shoots now. don't know whether i'll get any blooms but the season is long and sweet autumn is a thug. i also pruned a type 1 blue bird this year sacrificing blooms but like you, i'm hoping for a bushier plant.

nelly is peaking right now altho blooms aren't uniform, a bunch at the top (where the new growth happened last year) and a bunch at the bottom. nothing in the middle, lol. at least dr. ruppel is in between and fills the gap nicely...

Cutting my older than five years old Type IIs almost to the ground resulted in many more blooms that year and the second year many many more. They don't look like the same plants. They had scraggled along year after year with bare legs and a few flowers on top. Now they have foliage from the ground, dozens more stems and hundreds of buds.