I have a Gaura plant and I've never pruned one before so I wondered how I cut this back? Looks kinda woody towards the bottom so do I lightly trim it or cut it back by half or even more?
@CraighB That doesn't look like my gaura. They are perennials so should have died off and gone brown. I leave the old stems on throughout the winter and when it's warmer and you can see the new shoots coming through at the base, then you carefully cut the individual old shoots off with secateurs. Are you absolutely certain that yours is a gaura?
@CraighB, yes, that's definitely the right plant! All I can think of is that you must live in the south or the plant's in a very sheltered spot, so hasn't died down as usual. In that case, I would just tidy up any straggly bits and when you can tell that there's new shoots, give it a good feed with slow release fertiliser.
@CraighB That doesn't look like my gaura. They are perennials so should have died off and gone brown. I leave the old stems on throughout the winter and when it's warmer and you can see the new shoots coming through at the base, then you carefully cut the individual old shoots off with secateurs. Are you absolutely certain that yours is a gaura?
It looks like a Gaura l have, but that's a pink flowered one called Rosy, or something like that. Had a look at it earlier and it's just beginning to shoot from the base.
@CraighB, my two gauras were only planted two years ago and are not substantial plants yet so I can't answer that question - hopefully somebody else might be able to advise.
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Oh, and I would give it the Chelsea Chop at the end of May... cut back by half again..