[Arid_gardener] Question from Home-Hort WWW page

[jplumb at cox.net]

85022
jplumb at cox.net

We have two bougainvilleas on a west-facing wall. Although they've been in the ground only 3 years, they were about 10 feet tall (tied to trellises). This past winter destroyed every leaf. One of the plants is coming back fairly well (new growth is about 3 feet tall); the other plant has only a few small leaves down at the very base. Many of the branches on both plants seem dry and dead; others, when cut into, reveal some green. We don't know whether to prune both plants down to the new growth at this point (early May) or to wait until the hot weather really sets in and perhaps encourages more leaf growth higher up on the plants. The severe pruning would not only be a lot of work but would necessitate eventually re-attaching the new branches to the trellises. If there's hope that we can avoid that, we'd like to. Can someone advise? Thank you!