You could trim the dead blooms now to get a spurt of regrowth and potentially more blooms depending on what September brings.

I'd cut them back in March-ish depending on the weather, basically before the buds start to push.

First blush they look like Little Princess.

you probably couldnt kill the thing doing it whenever ...

which would then make me fall back to not doing it in bloom.. nor soon before.. whats the point of a flowering shrub if you cut off all the flowers.. or time it so you miss a whole bloom cycle ....

you could probably cut it to 6 inch stubs.. and have near the same plant in a year or two ...

spirea is not a foo foo plant ...

when i moved into this house.. i had a similar one.. and needed to move it.. cut it to 12 inches.. and dug it out in august.. and put it somewhere else.. breaking every rule i could think of... and it did NOT die ... in Adrian MI ...

EDIT: and i meant to say ... i didnt water it for the rest of the year.. and they both lived ...

ken

This post was edited by ken_adrian on Wed, Aug 7, 13 at 8:17

NOT 'Magic Carpet' - leaf color is wrong. Could be 'Little Princess', also perhaps 'Anthony Waterer'.

As noted, virtually anytime can be pruning time for these very tough shrubs. And that includes when in bud or bloom. I grew Magic Carpet for years but couldn't tolerate the anemic, Pepto Bismol pink flowers against that orangey-gold foliage so I'd trim the shrubs back any time they set buds (sometimes flowering shrubs are not that great in flower!!). I was rewarded almost immediately with a flush of brightly colored new foliar growth, but soon enough they'd set flower buds again. I wound up shearing mine back several times a season and also gave them a tight haircut each spring to keep their size in check.