Step 1 — Look for new growth In late winter or early spring, butterfly bush leaves begin appearing low on the plant. Wait until you see several signs of healthy leaves. Step 2 — Cut just above new leaves Make a clean, angled cut just above where those healthy leaves appear.
Step 3 — Check your variety Most standard butterfly bushes B. Step 4 — Prune out dead stems Look for older, dead stems and cut them close to the ground. Step 5 — Walk around the plant Be sure to look at the plant from all angles and make lighter pruning cuts to shape it as desired.
Use the same technique—based on variety—for fall pruning of butterfly bushes. Butterfly bushes grown in pots might need heavier pruning than other dwarf varieties. Pruning larger butterfly bushes to nearly ground level gives the shrub a nice, new start to its shape each year. Cutting back dwarf varieties helps remove any dead stems and shapes the shrub for the location and personal preference for shape. Failing to prune, especially for large butterfly bushes, can lead to plants that are too tall and have leggy growth and fewer flowers, since the plant needs energy just to feed the leaves on long stems.
Don't worry about pruning heavily every few years to rejuvenate and reshape an overgrown butterfly bush. You can do so without killing it, unless you prune when the weather is too cold. Deadheading is not necessary on most butterfly bushes, but it can help stimulate further blooming later in the season.
If you have a nonsterile variety, deadheading spent blooms keeps the buddleja from reseeding and becoming invasive. This butterfly bush above is only about 2 years old. It has grown beautifully, but now that summer is coming to an end, its starting to outgrow its space. These plants are tough as nails. Butterfly bushes die back each winter. When spring comes they begin to grow back and bloom on new wood. Although winter is still a few months away, we were ready to cut this bush back.
So we did. Butterfly bushes are forgiving plants. They will come back and look like a million bucks next spring. This butterfly bush has been trimmed to under 12 inches. Top view of a heavily pruned butterfly bush. Butterfly bushes require very little maintenance. Clipping off spent blooms will help encourage new blossoms. Its not a necessity, but it helps your plant look nicer.
Its best not to let the plant go to seed. You can avoid those weedy spreaders, by deadheading your spent blooms. Check out our directory of free articles to find more helpful gardening advice! Hi Mike, Erica from Cali here. I have a butterfly bush that I had for years. Although I keep it trimmed is there a way that I can clip it mostly back to the trunk? Will it still grow? So we are approaching November 1st is it too late to trim it back that far?
I never make promises, plants are plants, but I for sure would trim it if it were mine. My lovely 6 year old common lilac is dying. Has been another drought year here in Southern Iowa. Any advice how to save this plant. Have not had problems until late July. I have hydrangea bushes that are huge. I trimmed this spring but did not get flowers. If I trim now will they bloom next spring? Ideal time to trim them is as soon as they are done blooming. Although ogh, for lilac the best time to prune is after blooming season is done, otherwise you may nit get flowers the next season.
Mike, In recent years landscapers have started using, what looks like miniature sedum plants, on their tiered gardens. It stays low, keeps weeds down and spreads quickly … so quickly that it has reached my property in 4 yrs.
We can actually trace the route it took, over five different properties. However, it just keeps spreading and travelling and nothing seems to kill it. Do you have any suggestions? My butterfly bush is in a large pot. Can I leave it there or should I put it in the ground?? My butterfly bushes have gotten extremely woody. I have let them grow and not done much pruning. Is it too late to cut them way back since it should have been done before winter?
Question, We pruned a few butterfly bushes all of the way to the ground. Not six inches above, all of the way to the ground. Will it survive and thrive or should I be replacing them? They might come back beautifully.
At the back of my yard I have a butterfly bush jungle that acts as a privacy hedge. I hack it back early spring to about 4 feet and it grows to about 7 feet each year. Looks great but I wonder if this is a sign of ill health? As a volunteer footpath clearing person, I recently joined with one other to cut back — only with hand shears — various foliage blocking the path. This included cutting back some butterfly bushes and thinning out where they were damaging neighbouring fences.
We were told off by a passerby, who said that birds might be nesting in them — I said that birds are certainly attracted to them but over many years of having these in my garden, I have never witnessed any nesting in this shrub! I would hate to repeat this process if it was going to threaten birds. Will it? This was in the south west region of the UK in early June. Ok, thank you Mike. We will be more careful on timing in future. It was a well used footpath and the shrubs are very close to the path and so very unlikely to be nesting activity there but would hate to cause any harm.
I have a big butterfly Bush that I cut back about a foot. Now there is coming water and almost like it bleeds out of the trunk where I cut it.
And it smells bad too. Have I killed it? Hi, your picture is showing the bush growing from the old wood, yet you state they bloom on new wood. Can you clarify? Thank you. I know friends that never cut back their butterfly bush and they still bloom great. I always cut mine back to keep them looking good. They seem to bloom on either old or new wood. Mike, I have a white lilac bush that for the last few years is not blooming much. Is there something I can feed it, to bring the blooms back?
They know what to do and usually do best when we leave them alone other than some pruning. Lilacs only really bloom prolifically on wood 2 years old or less. Older branches should be cut back as far as safely possible. Eastern Shore, Md. I leave all mine go to seed for the little birds in the winter. They work the bushes for the seeds.
What may I ask can one do to get the butterfly bush to overwinter? I live in WI on that little thumb that sticks out of the east side of the state. I have tried and tried to get a butterfly bush to overwinter and every year it dies. It looks like it is starting to bud out, and then we get as frost and that takes care of the plant. Any suggestions? Try using a frost blanket you can buy for when the temperature is predicted to ho below freezing. I live in Ontario with fairly harsh winters.
They come back beautifully every spring. I live in Western Massachusetts, and it appears as though the butterfly bush is not as strong or hardy in our neck of the woods. I had a Yellow bush it was gorgeous and attracted lots of butterflies. I had it almost 3 years, I would cut it back and cover it with mulch for the winter as I was told to do because we get lots of snow and its very cold.
But two years ago it just never came up. And the same thing happened to my friend with her purple bush, I spoke to 3 garden stores and was told by all 3 that for some reason a lot of people have come in to replace their bushes too. Is there a disease we need to know about or maybe its just to cold here?
Its kind of comforting to know that I am not the only one that lost their butterfly bush in the last couple years, as sad as it is. I have looked every where for the yellow and cant seem to find it around here only the purple. We have given in and replaced the yellow with a purple bush in a different spot this summer and we are hoping for the best.
Once established, the buddleia plant is relatively drought tolerant. Our plants grow very well in a rocky, dry area of our yard. We planted several different varieties of butterfly bush in our gardens, primarily as accent plants in perennial borders and in a naturalized area that includes mostly native plants.
Though the buddleia is not native to our area, the pointy dark-green leaves and the weed-like appearance of the shrub fit right into naturalized setting. Like many other flowering shrubs, the butterfly bush must be pruned at the right time of the year to control it's shape and to encourage the most blooms.
Buddleia plants should be pruned twice a year: the first pruning is a hard-cutting in the spring, with a second pruning in the fall to cut away the spent flowers after the blooms fade away.
Cut back all of the woody stalks by about two-thirds in late winter or in early spring, and remove any weak shoots sprouting from the ground.
This hard pruning encourages stronger growth at the base of the plant, producing new shoots with flowers developing at their tips throughout the summer. As flowers bloom and fade during the growing season, deadhead any spent flowers to reduce the chances of self seeding. In the fall, prune away all of the tips to remove any faded flowers and developing seeds. In some areas, buddleia has become an invasive pest.
Deadheading and removing the spent flowers before they go to seed is an important step in reducing the chances of butterfly bushes escaping from the garden and into the surrounding fields and woodlands.
A beautiful Swallowtail butterfly visits our Buddleia Butterfly Bush. If the butterfly bush has a drawback, it is the potential for becoming an invasive pest. These bushes produce a lot of seeds. After the flowers fade in the fall, the seeds are dispersed by birds and by the wind. Some states list buddleia as species of special concern due to their ability to reproduce and spread, and we have found a few "volunteer" plants sprouting up in our New England gardens.
So far, we have not found any of these plants in the woodlands surrounding our property. Check with your local Department of Agriculture to determine if the buddleia butterfly bush is considered as environmental threat in your area. Cutting the stalks back in the spring and deadheading the spent blooms not only encourages butterfly bushes to produce more stalks next year and more flowers but also prevents the plant from producing seeds.
Hard pruning also helps to control the size and shaping of the plant, and I also selectively trim wayward stalks during the spring and summer. Question: In the middle of August, can I cut off the faded brown flowers of my butterfly bushes after the purple is gone? Will it encourage new ones in time for the Fall? Answer: Pruning away the spent flowers prevents the plant from producing seeds, and can encourage new growth with new blooms.
Question: I have year-old buddleia davidii that have not been hard pruned in many years. If I cut my buddleia butterfly bush back hard, will they survive? They are 15 feet tall at this point! Answer: Hard pruning can stress a mature plant. Instead of cutting back the entire plant, prune selectively to re-shape the shrub over several seasons.
This will help to encourage new growth. Answer: Yes, absolutely! Butterfly bushes can be pruned in the late fall after the flowers fade. In addition to shaping the bush, cutting away the dead blooms reduces the chances for the plant to re-seed and spread in areas where the Buddleia is becoming an invasive pest.
Question: Deadheading these flowers, encouraging new blooms may seem good to us humans, yet I have noted that a great many birds eat these seeds over the winter. Should we not consider the greater picture, of the effects of our plantings?
Answer: Buddleia are considered as Invasive Species in many areas of the country. Deadheading the spent flowers before they produce seeds is one method for controlling the unwanted spread of these plants. Seeds that are ingested by birds can be deposited elsewhere, helping the plants to spread. We let many of our perennial plants to go to seed to help feed the birds in winter but since Buddleia can spread in our area, we will deadhead the spent blooms. In spite of the deadheading, we occasionally find a volunteer growing in the gardens.
Answer: You can remove any weak or wayward stalks, or thin out an overgrown bush. This will help to encourage the plant to put more energy into the other stalks. Question: Can I cut my Buddliea down to the ground? Will it make the bush bloom stronger? Answer: I cut back all about two-thirds of the stalks in late winter or in early spring. I live in Connecticut.
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