Winter Daphne woes

Question

Read an article on your website by Becca Badgett. Planted five 1 gal. winter daphne in October in a well drained raised bed getting sun until noon, when sun at highest and a little sun on a couple plants nearing sunset. First blooming season only a few blooms. Watered an inch a week for first growing season. They seemed to grow a little “leggy” but doubled in size. One grew, bent over and I tried to straighten it and it died. This last winter the blooms were outstanding and covered the plants. After that a new growth of leaves started. They are over 3′ high and 4′-5′ wide. We had several, three or four, hard rainfall events over 2″ and with the new top heavy growth, all four remaining plants are mostly laying on the ground with some trunks at a very sharp angle, less than 45 degrees. They are growing so well but now bent over and I am afraid to try to stake them and gradually pull them up. Help! What can I do? They just grew UP too much!

Answer 1

Though they require only minimal pruning, if left unpruned altogether, it can become top heavy and split the branches. Pruning should be done right after blooming, as next year’s flowers bloom from the new growth. Cut back growing tips on extremely long, vigorous shoots, making any cuts into the current season's growth and just above a leaf node or junction with another stem. Do not cut into mature, woody growth from previous seasons.