Princess Flower Pruning Pitfalls

I love my princess flower (Tibouchina urvilleana), which grows in front of my home office window. The shrub’s airy structure lets light in through the window, yet provides enough screening that I’m not distracted—well, not quite as much—by the activity in the back yard.  Its branches provide a convenient resting place for hummingbirds and finches (which is definitely distracting!).  The plant produces beautiful, large, purple flowers nearly non-stop.  And when the blooms slow, the soft red-rimmed green leaves alone are pretty enough to carry the show.

Unfortunately, in recent years, my princess flower has grown spindly and lopsided.  I’ve lightly pruned it in the past to prevent legginess, but this year, I finally reached the point where I would have to take drastic measures or replace the plant.  A neighbor prunes her smaller shrub down to the bare wood each year and it comes back as a thick bush covered in blossoms each spring.  So I decided to experiment and radically prune the plant before making a decision about removing it entirely.

In February of this year, I grabbed the pruning saw, took a deep breath and started pruning the princess flower down to bare wood.  By May, I had just about given up any hope of seeing signs of life, when leaves finally appeared.  In September, the plant had grown . . . lopsided again.  (And no, that side doesn’t get more sun.)  Attached are photos from those months. 

While it was a grand experiment in pruning, the results weren’t what I hoped.  Although I toyed with the idea of another hard pruning this winter, instead I think I will replace the plant with another princess flower.  Another neighbor recently planted princess flower standards—maybe I’ll try one of those!

The pruning begins. (photos by Erin Mahaney)

Pruning completed.

Not much happening yet in May.

Still lopsided in September!

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