The pussies are the point of growing it. If you cut it back just as these are opening and discard them then that defeats the purpose of the shrub. Otherwise, the timing is fine - you would instead cut it back right after flowering.

Yes I do understand that but the shrubs were broken from the heavy snow we had and look very badly. So I wanted to trim before the fuzzy things formed. Is this ok or will the bush be hurt by doing so. I normally stool the shrub and this is what I was hoping to do today if it would not harm the shrub. Hopefully I will get an answer before I do anything. Thanks so much.

if you figure out how to kill it... let us know..

just do it ... removing broken pieces if therapeutic .. why waste energy trying to heal them ...

if it were me .. i would remove the broken.. and leave that which is not broken ... to feed the new growth ... and then in fall.. remove the remaining old big stuff ...

proper shrub regeneration involves removing 1/3 of the large stuff.. over a 3 year period ... which can be sped up ... due to injury ...

i doubt you can really hurt the thing...

you can take pieces of the branches in the house in a vase.. and they will probably 'bloom' for you ...

but i agree with bboy .. if you dont like the plant.. the fuzzy things.. why keep it at all??? ... you can do so much better ...

good luck

ken

Again, the timing is fine. In fact, the earlier in the year you cut it, the more time it has to regrow and set another set of buds for next year.

You wouldn't want to prune in fall as that would remove flower buds for next year's bloom.