Hello, I'm hoping some hibiscus gurus can help me here.

Every site out there gives about the same advice for pruning. Take off 1/3, new nodes will be activated, and do this in early spring, etc. All accurate info in my experience. However....

The 1/3 advice seems more appropriate for someone who wants their plant to keep getting larger and larger. My Painted Lady is part of a garden setting and I have a maximum size in mind which it has already met.

Here in FL a hibiscus will grow back much more than the 1/3 you take off. I've addressed this with some mid-season pruning, although staggered pruning has to be done to not miss out on a couple months worth of blooms altogether.

The real problem, and what I need help with, is how to handle the fact that when I prune early next spring, I'll be hacking right into an area that I pruned to last time, and thus an area of the plant where significant branching starts (as a result of the last pruning.) It seems the 1/3 rule is for people who can allow their plant to keep growing higher and higher. The only thing I can think of is to prune more aggressively in early spring, perhaps going slightly below where the most recent branching starts. or, maybe it is okay to prune just above that level, sort of like the way people prune crape mertyles? (with little V's everywhere that look like slingshots?)

Thanks in advance!