Pruning Cleome Hybrid (Spider Flower)

So in the greenhouse where I am working, we have a batch of Cleome hybrid: Senorita Rosalita spider flowers growing.
The greenhouse manager said that this is her first year having them in the greenhouse, and I really dont have any experience with them myself.
We are trying to keep them from blooming just yet, and are trying to keep them pruned back.
She said she pruned them back hard once when they first got them in, and they are getting to the point where they are flowing out of their pot radius again.
She said that when she got them, she was told that they did not like to be pruned.
Even so, like I said, they are growing like mad, and trying to bloom, and we need to know whether or not its ok to continue pruning them back like she had done before, without negatively effecting the plants.

Thank you!
Ash

This message was edited Mar 30, 2011 5:41 PM

Wow, I just found this thread. Senorita Rosalita is one of my favorite annuals! I've been planting it for about 3-4 years now. They are beautiful and totally carefree. No deadheading required; just give them food and sun and they turn into bushes. It's probably a little too late to answer your question, but last year I bought some Rosies that were hit by an early frost and half of the foliage was pretty bleak looking. Being a cheapskate, I asked for a discount b/c of the sorry looking condition of the plants and was first told, NO, and then the grower told me to just clip back the damage and they would bush out beautifully. He was right, they grew back full and fast. I still would have liked a discount though! ;)

Here's a pic of 4 plants along my neighbors fenceline.

Toni

They look beautiful =D
Ours at work look much the same, so glad to know we're on the right track lol.

Toni, those are beautiful! I didn't know that they got so bushy and full. I will definately be watching for some this year.
Dee

And best of all they are nearly thornless!

Dee, the Senorita Rosalita cleome is the BEST garden plant ever in my book! I know I may sound overzealous but they are just so carefree and they bloom continuously. If you need to fill a large area with just a few plants, this is it.

Here's just one plant.

I can hardly wait to get some.They look like a small flowering shrub, and I love flowering shrubs!
Dee

Is Senorita Rosalita cleome an entirely different type of cleome--with a different growing habit all together--or is the bushyness due to pruning the plant? The plants I usually find at the garden center or grow from seeds aren't at all bushy and actually grow quite tall (4 - 5 ft) wth a single bloom at the top of the plant.

Hi bacarney, the Senorita Rosalita cleome is a sterile hybrid and no pruning is required. It has a natural bushlike appearance with small, lavender colored flower petals on each stem and it blooms continuously all summer. The other cleome does have a much larger singular flower on the stem which is more showy and tends to grow tall with arching stems, has large thorns and develops tons of seed pods. The Rosie has no thorns, keeps a neat appearance and doesn't reseed like mad.

This is MY experience with this plant; I am no expert; just love playing in dirt.

So if the seeds are sterile, is it porpagated by cuttings? I found one while on a road trip and was so happy. They aren't available in my area and I'd love to overwinter it for next year. Looks too big to dig the entire plant.

Hi ghopper, according to Dave's Plantfiles, the Senorita Rosalita propagation method is herbaceous stem cutting.


http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/171690/

Should have thought to look there myself. Thanks for saving me the trouble. What a little treasure. Wonder why you so seldom see it sold.

Love the pictures but I have a questons. My cleomes get much taller and are mostly just a stalk - although these are my new favorite annual. If I cut them back as they are growing will that encourage them to become more of a bush like your photos show? Any hints on when to cut them back? weekly at first?

Here's my Cleome this fall with purple aster's blooming behind them

It should, but the only one I personally have experience with is the senorita rosalitas. I dont think we had to do anything to them in the end.
We took a few from the greenhouse last year, and planted them in the front display of the store. They looked exactly like the ones in the above photos.
Gorgeous, full, and bushy!