I'd wait.

I would wait until they're starting to expand the buds for next year's stems, just to be safe.

Let us know what you do, and how it works out. Most of mine (E. characias especially) have held up pretty well, though the Euphorbia mellifera look more tired than usual, though they're s-l-o-w-l-y perking up.

Good luck and keep us posted!
Grant

Thanks Grant and bboy! It's all I can do to keep my pruners off them LOL, but I am going to wait, which means waiting until the ugly #&%#'s are almost done flowering! The only Euphorbia I have getting ready to flower is the robbiae under a giant Cedar tree, the others are a long way off! I was at the CUH last weekend and the big Euphorbia c. wulfenii? in the gardens between the parking lot and the main buildings looked great, they actually had leaves on the stems! I too have a E mellifera looking a bit sad right now but at least it is alive (I think). I am sure they will all be fine, it's that spring fever thing. It was 61 degrees in downtown Snohomish this afternoon! ahhhhh.....

We had winter damage in the Camano garden that we didn't in Edmonds, the latter place looking like Seattle (cold? what cold?). 16F was observed at Camano, either it actually got colder than that there or much of the borderline stuff I planted in recent years was really borderline.

A singed, spontaneous Euphorbia characias seedling got jerked out (I was in a mood, in no other garden have I had so much trouble).

I don't always wait.

Keep us posted! I love those big honkin' Euphorbia characias plants. The bigger the better, I'd say. Mine look really, really good so far. I just wish the trend wasn't solely towards breeding shorter and shorter ones. I say keep going bigger too, heh heh.

Glad I'm not the only one with sad mellifera plants. The growing tip looks fine (and lonely since there are so few leaves underneath!). It will recover 100% I'm sure.

I'm enjoying watching how the variegated 'Tasmanian Tiger' and 'Glacier Blue' behave compared to each other. They've both been unscathed by the weather, and as its reputation says, the 'Glacier Blue' is proving a bit more vigorous over time.

Anyway, keep us posted and like bboy said, I don't always follow the "ideal" way either, heh heh. If you can't stand to look at them, give them a cut. :)

Take care,
Grant

LOL!!!! I was out in the garden today doing more clean up and looking for slugs and loopers and cutworms to destroy and it was all I could do to keep from whacking those four foot sticks with a few limp leaves at the end. UGLY!!!! This is always a depressing time of year for me and I should look back at old photos to remind myself how resilient plants can be but I think tomorrow I just may decapitate a few big Euphorbias! I'm with you Grant, I really do love the big ones! They are supposed to be hardy and perennial so, I shall put them to the test, if they come back hurray if not they get replaced!

Neither E. characias or E. mellifera are particularly hardy. New stems come from the base and are removed after they flower, do not cut everything away from a plant you wish to see bloom the same year.

I guess it depends on how you define hardiness, but E. characias is rated to at least 15F and can survive lower temps, provided that cold is not combined with overly wet soils. Most often they just get beat up in winter and come back strong in spring. We often cut back winter damaged containerized euphorbs at the nursery and they respond nicely, but will not bloom that season.

If you have the space, wulfenii and the other monsters make a dramatic garden accent and are just about as low maintenance a perennial as one can get - no pests, no diseases worth mentioning, no fertilizing or watering (after establishment) necessary and only the deadheading of the old flower stalks required. And unless you want a zillion euphorb babies, I suggest you tend to that promptly before the seed ripens. I removed a wulfenii from my garden several years ago that simply outgrew its space and there are still dozens of seedlings popping up in various places. I've opted to stay with some smaller growing ones ('Humpty Dumpty', 'Portuguese Velvet', 'Shorty') and any of the x martinii hybrids with their great winter color. No seeds from them :-)

I removed mellifera as well - just got too big for the space, although I loved the fragrance, an uncommon attribute in euphorbias.

Thanks Pam, I did state right off that I didn't care if they bloomed. I like the foliage. The blooms are wonderful but not if that's all there is! I have several other Euphorbias that had been cut back last fall and potted up and they are coming back already. I have never cut back the big guys until after they had bloomed because I thought I would lose them, that is why I asked the question. As I said before they are so UGLY right now I can't stand it so it's off with their heads. Today!

LOL, keep us posted, Mary.

Just for fun, I just now ran out and took a few quick pics of a very small subset of my euphorbias. You can see that some are happy, and some are less so, but all will be wonderful in a bit. You can also tell I'm a gardener and not a "designer" or photographer, lol.

Let's see here are some of my characias nicely budded up:

...and here are some not-beautiful (yet!) melliferas:

One of the 'Tasmanian Tiger' variegated plants (I think I have fifteen at last count, oink oink...all are easy from stem cuttings):

...and finally a little red-stemmed jobbie I put in a red pot last summer and leave right at the entrance to my little house. I like how the red pot highlights the red stems (or vice-versa!):

Keep us posted on your plants, and your pruning!
Take care,
Grant enjoying this very mild day by taking a nursery hopping trip down to Tacoma today (especially curious to see how 'Jungle Fever Exotics' looks after this nasty winter)

Nice Euphorbias Grant, and blooming in FEB! no less. I am very jealous! Just came in for a lunch break but can't wait to get back outside on this great day, it's hard to say focused as there is so much to do!! Grant, hope you found something really cool at Jungle Fever!

I'm glad you like the euphorbias. Did you hack yours back or give it a reprieve?

Jungle Fever was fun, especially on such a warm day as yesterday. I have to say, they got zapped HARD by the cold snap this winter. There were plenty of liquified agaves in their sales area and demonstration gardens, though not all, luckily. I did find some little treasures, including a tiny, inexpensive Grevillea victoriae which was a cutting from their main plant, which looks unscathed and lovely and starting a new flush of blooms.

Take care,
Grant

Here is a link that might be useful:

Follow up on sorry looking Euphorbia characias Wulfenii. I went to cut cut the Euphorbias this Saturday and with Felcos in hand noticed that I had cut these back many times before. With bboys comment about their being marginally hardy, I did more research about their longevity. It seems that they only perform well for three to four years at best! Being in a colder zone would probably limit their performance so I will be very lucky to see them return as they are already a good four years old!!! I noticed many cut backs when I went to do the deed. Time seems to be passing quickly (ugh) with age...... Time to go shopping!

Grant - First thing I noticed in your picture of the potted euphorbia was the color play of the pot and stems. Looks great! Now I'm thinking I need a pot that color for my rosa glauca....

I agree that most of the bigger spurge-type Euphorbias aren't what you'd call long-lived perennials, heh heh. Sometimes I have one that just suddenly melts. If you ever have some that you'd like to propagate they're easy from the current year's stem cuttings in mid-summer. I just snip them off with pruners and then put them in a fast-draining mix in partial shade with a good drink of water. My success rate isn't great (about 50%) but that's usually enough to keep me well-stocked. Now, if I could just stop buying new cultivars, oink oink.

Thanks for the compliments on the pot/plant combo, Socks. I have been lugging that pot around for several years indoors (for dried arrangements, freeze dried pomegranates, etc) but when I saw that Euphorbia I thought I'd press it in to service outside (after drilling a hole in the bottom of course).

Take care,
Grant, euphorbia addict

Every year for the last 15 years, my euphorbias just keep looking better and better.... but end of November, we had 24inches of snow and looking out the window, I could no longer see any 6ft tall Euphs. When the snow melted, all I had was a garden of E pancakes- they were all flattened and had lots of broken stems. I thought they would pop back up, and maybe they tried when a month later 8 more inches of snow to pancake them back down.

So I've gone out in the garden, pruned out the broken branches, stuck a stake in the ground behind each plant and trussed them up tight, hoping the stems will maintain a semblance of uprightedness when I release them when they start blooming. They're not attractive in the least right now, but it sure is easy weeding and cleaning around them.

... Don

Here is a link that might be useful:

Wow qiardinieren your Euphorbias are/were very impressive! They really like that spot. It looks very sunny. You need to talk to the Great Plant Pick people about that 15 years thing! Your plants must be the exception! At best mine have never looked that good. Heavy snow can really be structurally damaging to plants. Many years ago I used to love the look of snow! Now it looks best in the mountains.

giardinierven, took a look at your Euphorbia photo, that's what I call the WOW factor. It's also very obvious you have an eye for the right plant in the right place. I still seem to still be playing musical chairs with my plants most of the time. Your Euphorbias are really eyecatching. Thankfully it's a new year and next year they will once again be the WOW factor.

A......

Great pics, qiardinieren. I love how massive your euphorbias got. I hope they recover from the snow. Definitely keep us posted. E-pancakes....very very funny!

Sorry again for the damage, and I agree with everyone else...you have a terrific eye for design and plant placement. All of the photos in your album are EXCELLENT.

Take care,
Grant

The trick for any plant , of course, is to plant it where it'll be happy. I actually had just one giant Euph under the kitchen window, west facing, on a gravel hill for about 5 years and lamented that it never set seed. Then I discovered that euphs are like most succulents- stick a piece in the ground and it will grow.

My ''Kitchen Window'' Euph had always been about 6ft tall and very full and never looked barestemmed as some seem to become. I cut a bunch of nonflowering stems and put them allover the garden. Within 2 years I was ''rewarded'' with giant euphs allover the garden and a few thousand seedlings to weed out!!

The secret I guess is the perfect placement- a gravel hill in full sun.

15F is not a particularly low or rare temperature for this area. Hardiness (here) and 15F do not belong in the same sentence. When I used to go to local rhododendron society meetings the ones hardy to 10F were customarily referred to as "tender." Members from east of I-5 could only dream of growing such items for more than comparatively short periods.

During the 1990 killer winter banana belt locations like Shilshole or SW Seattle stood out for getting down to 10F-12F, instead of 5F or even 0F. Places as close in as the Seattle arboretum get into the 5F-10F range during years like that one. I've seen it get to ~5F here less than 1/4 mile from the Sound more than once - without using a maximum-minimum thermometer that showed the coldest temperature reached.

I would love to hear an update from the Euphorbia growers about how their plantings are now in fall 2011.

I'm new to Euphorbias just starting to grow them the past 2 years & love that the deer don't touch them! When first planting they are straggly looking & nothing to cheer about especially when they pout. Someone who gave me one said they are hysteronic meaning they overexaggerate after transplanting. Gotta laugh about that one! They do look like they've died, but they perk up in a few weeks.

Last year our low was 13 degrees & these are what we have now in the ground.
-Euphorbia 'Blue Haze' established & looks great still. I only prune after flowering in August taking out the flowering stems to the base.
-Mrs. Robb's spurge - transplanted in fall looks better than the starts I planted in spring. Many new stems have grown up from both plantings & I cut off the old ones in September to the base.
-purple wood spurge - spring planting last year, so settling in & less vigorous than the plain green.
-'Rudolph' taller w/ red stems - would prefer the stems not lean, but received that way in the pot & still curved. Hoping the new stems in spring won't curve like that.

Just planted up 2+ cu. ft container at camp under covered patio that included fall colorful 'Fern Cottage' E. griffithi as the anchor & 'Bonfire' reddish cushion spurge amidst other plants. Variegated sage, rainbow chard, variegated vinca minor, 'Wojo's Gem' vinca major, candytuft, a few bellflowers (serbian & peach leaf) & 'White Nancy' Lamium. I sure hope the Euphorbias don't pout too much in their new home.

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