Dont give up hope as they are late to show signs of life. The fact you are seeing some is good! And dont feel bad...I always think mine died too lol.

always include your big city location..

if you are in north canada.. then it wouldnt be surprising that its still not up...

when regenerating a plant basically from the root mass... then your recovery time is probably counted in years.. not a few weeks... or half a season ...

lets see what i look likes in sept...

ken

didn't your zone use to show by your name. st louis mo

Mine were always the last trees to leaf out. I always thought they were dead, too. Of course, I don't know what effect cutting them back to just a stump could have.

Vitex agnus-castus does quite well with hard pruning. I would do the big chop in spring, and rather a light trimming in fall

some large specimen tend to get moved by wind a lot, so taking off about a third could help

Mine in Massachusetts ( zone 6) hasn’t shown any life, but I am not giving up yet. Last spring it had died to the ground, but then revived and was beautiful. I do call it a shrub, not a tree.

Ah, see? Patience, grasshopper.

Mine is growing again, just like last year!

the new branches are almost laying on the ground. can they be pruned this time of year. as stated i want to keep these low & shrubby.

It’s hard to kill Vitex! Love their flowers. If you trim only say 10% now it might be ok. It’s about their bloom cycle next year. They should be trimmed in February at least here in Gulf Coast Texas. I can tell you if you trim in March or April you won’t get blooming. At least that’s my experience.

they've come in and spread the branches vertically. they're even blooming. i can't tend them as i just had back surgery & can't so sqat for at least 6-7 months.

Hope the back surgery was a complete success and that next spring you will be all set to work in the garden. Backs are such tricky things, aren't they? A bad back just hurts al the time. Sorry you had to suffer through the surgery (and now the recovery which can be slow and therefore annoying), but glad you got it fixed.