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Butterfly Garden

Buddelia Pruning in 5a

17 years ago

I need a refresher with my butterfly bushes. Because of where we live, we were advised they might behave like annuals, so every year they return, I'm thrilled. In the past I have pruned back the previous years' growth, pretty much to the ground. This doesn't seem to have hurt the plants' growth. But I recently read that it was recommended to let the new growth come on existing growth for a bushier plant. I suspect that's for Zone 7, not for me! Anyone have experience? Should I just get out my pruners and go after them?

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Comments (6)

mcronin
17 years ago
In general, pruning will give you a shorter neater butterfly bush with slightly bigger blooms while not pruning will give you a bigger butterfly bush. Most of us prune in early spring BEFORE the new growth appears.

mike
emmayct
17 years ago
Some years here in Ct, they die all the way back to the ground. When that happens you could swear it's dead. Sometimes it doesn't start growing from the base until June.

This year, they fared well, with new growth beginning about half way up. I just pruned them down to about three feet. I'm gonna see how that works.

Somewhere, I read that pruning in the late fall can kill the plant, and I have lost several in the past. I wonder if it's because I pruned them in the fall, I can't remember.

Keeping them deadheaded is very important and is actually a form of pruning that goes on all summer.
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susanlynne48
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Some Buddleia species, like B. alternifolia, B. asiatica, B. colvilei and B. globosa, bloom on last year's wood, so you wouldn't want to prune them back and forfeit bloom. Buddleia davidii cultivars like 'White Profusion', 'Pink Delight', 'Black Knight', and 'Royal Red' bloom on new wood, so they can be cut back to the ground virtually. I usually wait until I see the new growth appearing at the base of the shrub, and then prune off the old, dead branches.

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weldfarmgirl
Original Author
17 years ago
Susan - thank you - I have the Black Knight, and had cut them to the ground in the past. They always seem to come back, so perhaps that was the tack to take. Been too cold so far for much of anything to come up, but I am watching them; maybe this weekend after the snow is over I can go after them. I suspect the confusion I had was in reading and the author had not indicated what cultivar needed what. Thanks!!
stevholz
17 years ago
I just had frost kill the new leaves on my Buddleia. Should I cut them down to a point below the dead leaves?
SmokyMist
14 years ago
I know this is an old thread, but I found it while searching on how to root These from cuttings.
I have to say, here in zone 7 ( East TN), I never prune or cut back my Buddelia, and they are both 7 foot tall, and FULL of blooms every year. If anything they are way outgrowing the area I put them in lol. They are gorgeous right now, smells like Honey when you walk around them, and covered in butterflies. This would be Black Knight, Pink Delight and Nanho Blue.

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