Question about caryopteris in Mid Atlantic

My two caryopteris, a Petit Bleu and a Blue Knight (I believe) have no leaves on them yet. This is only their second year in the ground and they did great last summer and fall. It's noted in one of the gardening catalogs that they are late leafing out, but this seems very late. A vitex planted in the same bed just started leafing out about ten days ago and a hydrangea just a week ago. I'm a former zone 9 gardener, so maybe I'm just impatient. Can anyone advise?

My caryopteris is in its third year and has always leafed out by this time. Has yours been cut down to about 6 inches so that you are only looking for the new growth at the bottom?? This is how mine works and each year it gives a whole bunch of new sprouts.

Good luck with this beautiful bush.

Regards,

Teri

Pam,

Your caryopteris should definitely be leafing out by now. Hopefully, they survived the winter. Try cutting a little bit off of one branch and see if the wood looks green. That might help solve the mystery.

I've had parts of mine die out for no reason, but not an entire plant. Good luck!

Barb

I was at a nursery the other day and there caryopteris didn't have many leaves either. I was considering buying it but I wasn't sure if that was the way it was supposed to look at this time of year. You could tell they had been cut back from the year before and were waiting for new growth.

Thanks all for your responses. I'll let you know how the plants do. I didn't cut them back to 6". Thought I read to just trim the ends back about 6". I can't believe how much learning there is to do with zone changes. I grew in containers mostly for 25 years in zone 9, but here in zone 7, I feel like I've started all over. The worst thing I have trouble with is spacing. Things that would grow very quckly in Orlando, but fag out in the heat before getting too huge, grow slowly but much bigger here. I'm going to have to move some things like viburnum and hydrangea that are now second year plants in the fall. Fun but frustrating.