Thank you for your reply. The shrubs are still very young and aren't very tall - maybe almost 2' right now. One is just much more full inside than the other.

To remove the pods, is it best to remove them entirely right at the main branch they grow from, or just pull the pod off at the base?

Thanks again!

if you plan on coming back.. go to your members page .. and add you location ,..

as a newb.. your best choice is to let the thing leaf out.. then cut out all the dead .... i am sure mine in MI look just like this ... so its way too early to come to any conclusions ...

second... it is plant 8 to 10 feet too close to the house .. see link for pix of potential .... they should probably be moved ... perhaps in fall.. if i knew where you are ... first we have to see if they lived ....

https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Rose+of+Sharon&FORM=HDRSC2

third.. they are invasive in many areas ... if they did not live.. think about other plants ... and learn how to ID seedlings.. as you will start having them ...

since it does appear entirely dormant.. now might be a great time to move them ... but i dont know where you are ...

ken

Thank you Ken. I do plan on sticking around yes - it seems like a great community here. I added my location. Does that help?

I do have it planted to close to the house don't I? Not sure where I would relocate it at the moment.

My neighbor has two planted very close to his garage and he whacks them down to stubs each spring like Embo suggested.

I added my location. Does that help?

==>> yes it does.. because it tells us.. you.. that this late emerging plant is doing just that ...

had you been in a much warmer zone ... then we would start thinking its dead ...

live and learn with location ... but since you have 2 ... leave on be but for removing dead stuff in a month ... and perhaps chop down the other as noted above ...

of all the things ive ever read.. i remember my own experiments ..

now that they made it thru their first winter.. these things are going to be hard to kill.. other than intentionally ....

ken

Hi Ken,

Thanks again for your input. Ok so I'm holding off on removing any of those dead pods from last years flowers. The start of May would be fine then? How about in the photo I attached - which method should I go with?

Both of the shrubs are at the front of the house, so I would rather not upset the appearance of either right now with trimming one down much more than the other until they grow larger.

Like cecily mentioned that their neighbour has them planted close to his garage - mine are about 20" - 24" at the root ball away from the wall you see in the photo. So they really aren't quite touching yet - at least one of them. One shrub is shorter and has more sideways growth with several more branches inside, so it's starting to get close to the house. The other is taller, not as wide and with fewer branches inside. Trimming the backside to keep branches from touching the brick is ok right?

I'm very much looking forward to learning how to properly care for these shrubs. And seeing doing what will give different results! Thanks to everyone for your help so far :)

Do you want to keep them in "shrub" form? I like them when they are pruned as trees (that can mean multiple or single trunks). If you want to keep them as shrubs, they take well to tip pruning (don't shear).

Hi Logan,

I would prefer to keep them in a shrub form yes :) I'm still learning about pruning. What is the difference between tip pruning and shearing?

Thank you!

Shearing is indiscriminately cutting each stem back to the same point. Tip pruning is a way to encourage density, as well as to shape the plant, but not restrict it. To tip prune, you would use your bypass pruners and snip each individual tip back 3-6 inches (or whatever length you prefer, on your shrubs I would say 3-4 inches would be best). This would remove the seed pods, encourage density, and helps to shape the shrub.

Ok that's great Logan thank you.

So in the photo trimming above the branch node where the yellow circle is would be a good call? That's about 3" - 4" there.

Regards

Yes, take all of the branches down 3-4 inches, but all of the branches shouldn't be the same length in the end result. Does this make sense, or am I just making it confusing?

No I perfectly understand what your saying :) The point at which I trim though is what I'm wondering about. Like in my above photo - would I trim just above a node like where the yellow circle is, or just at any point?

Thanks

It just depends where it needs to be cut. It can be cut at the node, but it doesn't have to be. Others may disagree with that, but ROS takes to pruning well.