I live in the eastern Bay Area (Livermore, CA). My young princess flower suffered some pretty severe frost damage this winter. I don't think it is dead, but all of the leaves are dead and most of the outermost appendages seem dead too. I am looking for guidance on how to prune it to see if I can get it to come back. I think we've experience the last frost. Can anyone help me? Thanks!
I know it's hard to look at the ugliness of frost damage (we've had more than normal to look at this winter!), but the advice continues to be... If possible, wait for buds to swell and show where the live part of the plant is, then prune just above those buds, to remove all the dead stuff. Just to reassure you, those of us to the north of you never try to leave these outdoors, and my big potted standard tibouchina is sitting in my cold greenhouse trying to sprout from the very skeletal framework I left for it after putting it in there last fall. In other words, I've had to chop most of the top off to squeeze it into the greenhouse, and it has managed to survive and will now sprout from the remaining branch stubs...not nearly as easy as keeping one outside like you can do! But we'll both be enjoying this beautiful shrub later this year once again.
