Itea virginica. Sweetspire. It flowers on the previous year’s growth. I‘m guessing it was pruned at the wrong time and the flower buds were destroyed.

Floral,

thank you for that information.

So they are higher than i want at the moment but if i do nothing i should have blooms next year and then right after bloom i can cut. is that right.

Yes.

Heavy pruning of a shrub this late in the season, especially in zone 4, is not likely to give good results long term.

I am surprised that if this bush is what you say i am still not seeing any coloring of leaves at all in zone 4. some trees have started their fall colors.

The foliage and the growth habit look more like Clethra than Itea to me. Itea is also already somewhat marginal in zone 5, and frequently suffers a fair bit of winter dieback there. I’d be very surprised to see one this healthy looking in zone 4.

I readily defer to local knowledge.

I thought Clethra too.

Ok, i am back the original poster. i am still confused with what i have.

this is a condo so i had nothing to do with the planting but i would like to know to decide how to prune. i took another photo today and all the ones i showed you before are now with yellow leaves but i have a few next to it with the white brush blooms.

i have had two different opinions on here so i am still wondering. i am in zone 4, and itea virginia seems to be for a warmer zone and clethra might be what the other bush is.

still want to know what to do about pruning. if anyone can help thank you.

The new ones you show are Actaea which, being a perennial, will die back to the ground after a killing frost. Do nothing with it until then and enjoy the blooms.

tj

The white brush flowers are not a shrub. They are a perennial, Actaea simplex.

The original plant pictured that was blooming with white flower spikes, and in the latest pictures is turning the wonderful golden fall color, is Clethra alnifolia - Sweet Pepperbush or Summersweet. There are a number of fine named selections.

This plant should be pruned for shape etc. in early spring before or as leaves emerge from dormant buds. It blooms on new wood in midsummer (July here).