Thanks. It's not a terrible plant because its in the side yard where appearances don't count as much. The parts that show over the fence are always pretty. And it blocks two bathroom windows, which I appreciate.

It is incredibly popular with the hummingbirds, whether perching, feeding, fighting, or just hanging out.

This is the best time of year to heavy prune them, although I have pruned them at other times during the growing season too. Since they seem to almost always be in flower here, don't go by that criteria. They can take rather heavy pruning, but they will bounce back with vigorous growth to try to regain their former height. If you want to keep it smaller, it will require quite a bit of diligent pruning to maintain the new size.

I've pruned 8' plants back to a 3' bare trunk, and it resprouted quickly. But mine was a relatively young plant (about 5 years). It sounds as if yours is much more mature. If you are unsure, you can thin and heavily cut half of the plant, and then shorten the rest of the branches. When you see new growth from the heavy cut/more woody locations, then you can safely cut the longer branches an additional amount during a future pruning session.

Thanks! I have no idea on the age of this thing but hooking it up to the irrigation system has created a monster. :)

It's got younger stems as well as the original so your plan of attack ought to work. I can't kill 'em all, right?

Hummingbirds don't really attack, right? They do some aggressive flybys when we get too close but I'm sure they're just posturing...

Hummingbirds can attack each other, but yeah, they tend to only show off their near miss skills with people. :)

I have only ever encountered one exception. An Anna's unwisely built a nest, and laid eggs, in a potted plant near an entryway....of a model home. And then she panicked and dived at anyone that came to view the model! If I was working in the area I would warn people about the guard at the final model, because it was the first visit there for most of them and I felt bad hearing the frequent startled screams. I never understood why the sales office didn't give visitors a heads-up about the situation. I'm sure that poor hummer was a frazzled mess by the end of each day.

All other nesting hummingbirds I've encountered have been calm in temperament. But I'll never forget that one that learned too late that it is location, location, location when choosing a place to raise a family.

Ha! I'm pretty sure they don't nest in this tree. It's more like their clubhouse. Probably too busy a place for a nest. The nests we've managed to locate are in peaceful trees and the parents keep a pretty low profile so as to not draw any attention.

But you walk to the veggie garden by the iochroma and it feels like a hornets' nest. :)

Any time of year is good for them. It might take a little longer in the dead of winter to regrow new foliage after a hard cutback,but then again if we get rains,that really gets them going. I have one now with a big fat trunk and some smaller secondary trunks. It is always the same- by this time of year after a long summer of my hand watering it's a bit bare...when rains come and if temps are mild,it rushes to grow again.