How to Cut Back Morning Glories

Morning glories produce an abundance of flowers that only survive for a single day, but they are replaced with fresh blooms daily. The plants flower during summer and only during daylight hours, closing up and fading as the sun sets. Bush morning glories grow as a perennial in the southern United States. The plants don't vine like other morning glory varieties. Instead, they grow as a 6- to 8-feet-tall bush. The bushes benefit from periodic cutting back to encourage full growth and further flower bud production.

Shears

Instructions

- 1
  Trim the plant in early summer after the first flush of flowering completes. Remove up to 50 percent of the plant's height when trimming.
- 2
  Cut back the morning glory monthly throughout summer and fall beginning 30 days after the first early summer trim. Remove between 25 and 50 percent of the plant's height at each cutting so the plant remains full and continues to flower.
- 3
  Prune back the entire morning glory in late fall or early winter after frost kills the plant back to the ground. Cut off the dead stems at soil level and dispose of them. The morning glory regrows from the roots as the weather warms in spring.

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