The only problem I can think of is that you probably won't have blooms this year.

Thanks. I can give up a year. The were about 2’ tall and leggy. Didn’t look good at all.

Now hopefully I can have the same luck with my lilac and viburnum 😎

Hopefully you did not cut the lilac and viburnum to the ground like the spirea. You won't have the same luck with that.

I have spirea I cut back like this every other year and they always manage to bloom just fine. I do it fairly early- mine have already begun to leaf out.

first... it would be good to ID your actual plant .. we can do that later ..

second.. crikey ... could the prior owner have planted them any closer to the foundation .. my god ...

you cant plant a bush thats going to be minimum 4 to 6 feet round.. 3 inches from the wall .. and then wonder why you have problems ...

imo... move them .. or just get rid of them ...

just look at the future growth potential: https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffcm&q=spirea&iax=images&ia=images

do you see any that should be where yours are ....

all that said.. you can barely kill the things.. so you will be back to my equation by fall

just always remember.. foundation plants are planted to hide the foundation... NOT ON THE FOUNDATION ....

aw heck.. just get rid of them.. and plant your own mistakes... lol ...

ken

Are these gold leaf spiraea? If so cutting them back is precisely what they need and the flowers are neither here nor there, being muddy pink and not looking great in the yellow foliage. They do not grow very large and their proximity to the house is not an issue..

They will be perfectly fine!! And will probably bloom this season as well. I had a colored leaf spiraea I cut back mercilessly every winter and then multiple times during the growing season. I could not tolerate the muddy pink flowers (floral nailed that!), so every time it started to bud up, I'd shear it back. It never even blinked!!

Just what the Dr ordered I guess!

But dang these are wayyyyy too big for this area!

I have a perfect spot I’d like to move these to! When should I? Fall?

Either when the leaves start to color up in fall, or early spring. You could even split the bigger clumps in half or thirds if you want more, just make sure the parts have a good amount of roots and you use a sharp shovel.

Thanks for sharing photos of your spirea! I have one monster and one baby (replaced a dead monster) and I've been wondering how far back I can cut the monster. Looks like I can cut it way back!