How and When to Prune Abelia
Cutting back abelia plants isn’t strictly necessary. If you want a hands-off approach to your shrub, that’s fine. However, an annual abelia pruning will go a long way toward keeping your plant compact and neat looking, especially if it’s had a hard winter. The best time for pruning glossy abelia shrubs is late winter or very early spring, before it’s started to grow. Glossy abelias produce flowers on new growth, so if you cut back anything after the growing season has started, you’re cheating yourself out of flowers. Abelias can survive down to zone 5, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they won’t suffer some winter damage – especially if the winter’s been bad, you may notice some dead branches when spring starts. Luckily, abelias can handle pretty aggressive pruning. If any branches haven’t made it through the winter, simply cut them away. Even if most of the branches have survived, cutting of branches down to the ground is perfectly fine and should help promote new, compact growth. It’s as simple as that. Pruning glossy abelia shrubs once per year before the growing season should keep the bush attractive and flowering well.
