That's serious pruning, NHBabs - I hope you'll provide updates as the Spiraeas bounce back. It's always good to reassure people that hard pruning can be beneficial for the plants.

Claire (who avoids pruning if at all possible but gave in this year when some plants really needed help)

I used to have a hedge of Spirea, about 7 feet high. I cut them back a couple of times down to 2 feet high, and they came back no problem. Some new shoots grew 4-5 feet in no time, so I think yours will bounce back easily.

I've done this twice before I think, both times when a hard winter had left them with broken branches and rodent-stripped bark, and they revived quickly. I am not normally a pruner other than to remove dead wood and rarely rubbing branches, but both Annabelle and the Spiraea really needed it. I wouldn't do this for all shrubs, but for these two, it's fine.

Claire, I'll try to remember to add another photo in a couple of weeks.

Mine are already leafing out - can I still hard prune them or has the ship sailed and I need to wait until next year?

Once when I did this, they had begun to leaf out, but buds were only half open. It still came back fine. I can't make guarantees, but in general my experience with Spiraeas is they are pretty tough plants once established. My one qualification is for smaller specimens, they are better off if you cut relatively short. Cut them by half and they get pretty wild and lose the nice arching form.

Thanks for this Babs!

Excellent, NHBabs! That's exactly what you hope for when you take a deep breath and start to prune.

Claire