Hibiscus overgrown

[Wayne Elliott]

Hi everyone. I'm new to this and need HELP!!!! My wife and I recently bought another house. The past owner has 4 hibiscus plants near our porch. The plants are in the ground 2' apart front to back and 30" apart right to left. The man never took care of these or the azalea plants. All are very overgrown. The hibiscus stand 5' tall and are really spread out badly. I know that June and July is the time to trim them back. All have stopped blooming. All 4 plants have old wood in them with some 2" in diameter. I want to trim all the plants back to about 12" above the ground but I'm afraid of killing the plants. All the stems have leaves, even the old wood. What can I do to keep the plants and care for them properly? They really need to be cut back drastically.

 

[grouie]

I think deep pruning can harm your plant. I suggest you do up to about 2' and keep some branches around which will get new shoots.

 

[Sheal]

Welcome to the forums Wayne. There are different types of Hibiscus and I suspect that yours are shrubs that will grow quite large and shouldn't have been planted close together. Is there a chance we could have pictures of them please?