The spirea in your driveway has overgrown and you're wondering how to prune it? Well, pruning spirea is very easy and can be done in a few hours.

Spireas are extremely low-maintenance plants. This plant is known to flourish without much supervision and pest control. The reason being, this plant is resistant to most plant diseases and grows well in almost all types of soil. All it needs is some shaping. If you have several spireas in your garden, simply trimming the overgrown ends should be more than enough to get the job done.

The Spirea Plant
Spireas are native to the Northern hemisphere. These plants are also known as 'meadow-sweets' and have nearly 90 odd species. Bear in mind that this plant contains methyl salicylate which is highly toxic and must never be consumed. In the past, the Native Americans considered spirea a herb and used it for treating pain, inflammation, stomach ache, and fever.

The flowers of this plant are bright and colorful, and can be found in shades of red, pink, yellow, and white. Spirea bushes yield flowers during spring time, which grow in clusters of several hundred. Spirea plants do not need any maintenance or special treatment in order to grow robust, and all they require is adequate sunlight, light watering, and some rainfall. Pruning this plant is relatively simple and all you need is some basic gardening tools to help make the task easier.

How to Prune Spirea

• These flowers bloom in spring time and they must be pruned soon after the first few flowers have bloomed and are beginning to fade.
• Pruning spirea is a once in a year task, thereby letting you forget all about them through the rest of the seasons.
• The first step is to cut off all the dead and diseased branches.
• Lightly deadhead the spirea branches so that they may flower more than once in that season and to prevent them from spreading a lot. Most varieties of spireas can grow up to 6 feet in length and 10 feet in height and more, when not pruned.
• Use a hand pruner to chop off the fading flowers from the top upper branches and use a larger pruning tool such as the loping shear to snip off the thicker branches in the inner parts of the bush.
• Remember that the old branches must be cut off first, as they are no longer capable of bearing flowers and will only look ugly and woody if not dealt with.
• Always cut off half of the spirea plant's excess undergrowth, so that its branches begin at 4-6 inches above the ground and there is more air circulation.
• Pruning in order to thin the bush out, will provide space between the branches and help them grow and breathe. Cut off 3-5 inches of bush from the top and chop off branches that are getting intertwined.
• Feeding some fertilizer to the newly pruned spirea plants will help them grow healthy and produce more flowers during their next blooming season.

Spirea plants grow in compact foliage that may have a golden-yellow or reddish foliage. They look very attractive when planted along to the driveway.