mine have never grown on the ground ... and they take care of that themselves ..

do you fert them?? .. hope not ... it can do strange things to plants.. like excessive growth that can not be supported by the plant.. in essence.. they grow faster than they can hold themselves up???

these are some of the most carefree plants i have ... up here in MI anyway ...

ken

Thanks, Ken. I live in Oklahoma, and they are beautiful plants. They became tall and arched like many of my roses, but the lower canes grew straight out, and rooted in the soil.

I have cut them way back, but have lost one because the weight of the canes loaded with flowers seemed to have broken the canes -- right in the center of the plants. I could not see the damage until the fall, and so many weeds had invaded that I just dug it up. I have never seen so many honey bees.

I do not fertilize them, but really do not know how to control them.

They are truly beautiful.

Sammy

You actually got quite a bit of advice on the thread you started in the perennial forum. To summarize, only prune in the spring, not summer so you don't remove the flowers. You can prune anywhere from taking it down to 6"-9" to removing 1/3 of the plant, and timing is any time up to when you start seeing buds expand in the spring. Mine die back to the snow line every year, so I just remove the dead wood on mine, but in your milder climate, if you want them smaller, prune off more. I am not sure what other advice you are looking for.

To keep the weeds down, I'd give it a good layer of mulch, perhaps with a couple of layers of newspaper under it. That will keep the weed seeds from sprouting, and it will make it easier to pull the weeds you have. Alternatively, if you don't want to mulch, you can use a stirrup hoe about once a week. It will only take a couple of minutes to remove all the weeds if you do it often, and because of the long handle of the hoe, the bees shouldn't bother you.

Gee, Babs, I hope you are not annoyed that I posted here. I want advice from people who live closer to my zone. I have already pruned them, and they will begin growing soon. They have a spring bloom, and shortly afterwards continue blooming until late in the fall. The span of the plant is about 8 feet, and this is after they arch at about 4-5 feet.

The bees weigh them down enough that they can tend to break in the center. Pulling weeds means to lift canes that are loaded with bees. The newspaper strategy does not seem to work well for me. I think it is because we must water so much when the temps are over 100.

I cannot find information as to how sturdy the center canes are or what I should do to strengthen them. i have wondered if I should insert some rebar near the center of the plant and tie it to help support it.

The plant is so beautiful that I cannot understand why there is no more discussion about it than there is. It is a shrub, and I should not have posted about it in the Perennial Forum, and chose to repost here. I have belonged to Garden Web since the days of Spike, and have often chosen to post wherever I wish.

I do appreciate your input, and thank you for your information.

Sammy

Sammy, not annoyed, just unsure what additional info you might want. There is an OK gardening forum that is pretty active to that might help get info that is specific to your local area.

Lots of folks post about some of the smaller flowering shrubs in the perennials forum, so that isn't a problem, especially with one that tends to function more like a perennial for many folks. You may find that your hard pruning helps reduce the drooping, and Caryopteris is fairly drought tolerant once established, so you may find that if you water those particular plants less, that they grow more upright. If I were you, I would probably see what happens this year after the pruning, water only if the plant looks like it needs it, and then do the support next year if the other strategies don't work. However, you can always put in the rebar and wire hoops now, and then guide your Caryopteris in as it grows. It always looks untidy if it's done after it needs it rather than as it grows IMO.

Thank you, Babs. I have cut my plants way back. They probably measure about 2 feet, and are out of dormancy. The one that died was hiding a rose bush, so I now have 6.

I love the Oklahoma Forum and my have posted there. Oklahoma, Antique Roses, and Roses Forums are my favorites. I visit others from time to time, but regularly check out those 3. Texas has good information as well as the home forums.

This year I will understand that the plants will bloom twice. After the spring bloom I will cut them back in anticipation of blooms until a freeze.

I had hoped that others would post pictures of their plants, as well as suggestions on how they handle the weight of the honey bees. I also had hoped that those who like the caryopteris would suggest companion plants, since I have a large area to fill. That is why I continued to post what seemed like the same question. Also, I don't go back to re-read what I have posted, and I can easily repeat myself.

Sammy