Hi, if you would dig them out then you could do them now and see what happens. nothing to lose .

I never prune mine....i feel the foliage during the winter is as important as the flowers in spring. I just cut back the flowering shoots when they've finnished flowering.

I'd get out there immediately with a pair of gloves and sharp secateurs - remove all shoots which flowered last year at the base of the plant, leaving newer ones alone. Should be done autumn usually.

thank you sbgirl, andy en bamboo.
i love the way everybody so makes their own rules here.
This for me is what gardening is all about, so many variables and personal preferences and experimenting going on..ok so it might go wrong, i'll have learned something again.
here goes, i will cut off the really lanky stems and leave the rest, i always have 2654 more euph. seedlings everywhere in the garden trying their luck.

!

There is often confusion about whether to prune Euphorbias or not - the variety you have is one of the 3 which carries 2 lots of stems, the previous year's and the current years, which is why flowered stems should be cut down when they're finished, or by autumn

thanks bamboo, i usually do cut the flowered stems but i have been away so much this year that lots didnt get done and the euphorbias were amongst the casualties.
they have been shorn now.