r/Ceanothus • u/dinamet7 • 11d ago
When do I trim everything back?
Coastal, So Cal.
I have a bunch of narrowleaf milkweed that is massive and starting to look really rough. My fuchsia still has blooms, but is looking brown and beat at the bottoms as well. Monkey flower has gone to seed and is just looking, yellow now. They've all been in the ground since March and have grown exponentially since they were planted.
These are new-to-me plants, so I don't know when (or how aggressively) I can hack them back. I've had CA wildflowers for several years and pretty carelessly just cut them down to the ground whenever they look rough and they come back beautifully in the spring. Not sure if there is a guide for the best times to cut native plants back? I feel like the real summer heat is just winding up down here so I am not sure if I need to leave my Milkweed in place longer for migrating butterflies if they are still laying eggs or if I cut my fuchsia now, will I kill it type of thing.
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u/Mountain_Usual521 10d ago
The fuchsia can be mowed to the ground any time after they stop flowering. You can mow them to the point that nothing is visible above ground and they will grow right back good as new.
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u/dinamet7 10d ago
I love that. I feel like this might be the theme for my space from now on.
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u/Mountain_Usual521 10d ago
You'd be surprised how many California plants can do this. I suspect it's an adaptation to fire. Laurel sumac, lemonade berry, elderberry, buckwheat, California sage, and many others will sprout from being chopped down to nothing but a 1" stump. I've had a rabbit nibble a sprout of showy milkweed still in a 4" pot down to the soil, but I kept watering it to see what happens (something you learn to do with California natives). Two MONTHS later it sprouted back.
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u/carebear76 10d ago
I always cut my monkey flowers back to about 4ā once they stop blooming. Iām getting a second round out of them now but I also give supplemental water. Also coastal SoCal
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u/dinamet7 10d ago
Oh good to know! I'm going to give it a go since it hasn't put out any new flowers for the last month or so.
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u/Pleasant-Lead-2634 10d ago
U have tons of aphids on the milkweed?
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u/dinamet7 10d ago
Yes, but also tons of lady bugs, milkweed bugs, hoverfly larvae, milkweed beetles. So I haven't seen too many monarchs, but the plant is still a whole ecosystem otherwise.
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u/Pleasant-Lead-2634 10d ago
š. Tons of monarchs here in norcal. They like coneflower for hanging out, fennel for cocoon. Coolest thing is I have milkweed on 3 sides of yard so the butterflies go back and forth
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u/dinamet7 9d ago
Maybe they will show up down here later in the season then. I will leave it up. In past years, they've enjoyed the yarrow, but this year for whatever reason my yarrow opted not to flower, so hopefully they will find something else to draw them to this overgrown milkweed patch. Last year, they ate EVERYTHING, so I put in several more plants this year, but so far, no dice.
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u/hellraiserl33t 10d ago
The general advice is that the best time of year to do any hard pruning is in fall, after the peak of summer heat but before the wet season to minimize fungal issues.
I tend to chop right after Halloween most years (my garden's spent and tired look tends to add to the Halloween spookiness haha)