Butterfly bush pruning: need advice
natureinspiredM_ 6B NJ
8 years ago
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natureinspiredM_ 6B NJ
8 years agoRelated Discussions
when to prune a butterfly bush?
Comments (15)Purple, I will warn about any plant I know to be invasive in my area (zone 8, Pacific Northwest, especially the Puget Sound area). A good number of plant species that are invasive in other parts of the country have not (yet) proven to be so here. And vice versa. Some - like Buddleia - have been found to be very problematic here but not so much elsewhere. Invasiveness is very regionally oriented :-) And while I have defended Vinca minor (not V. major) as not being a particularly invasive species in my area, I do caution against planting it close to any natural or wooded area because it can and will spread. But it is not to the point of it being considered a noxious weed or a listed invasive species. OTOH, I defy anyone to find where I have ever, ever defended Hedera helix on any of these forums. I won't even recommend this plant in areas where it is not considered to be particularly invasive (typically only those areas cold enough to kill it back in winter!!) because it provides an excellent habitat for all manner of vermin. And in the PNW, this plant is perhaps the most pervasive invasive plant problem we deal with. And it is everywhere. Buddleia davidii is an especially prolific and fertile seeder. Each flower head can contain as much as 40,000 seeds and with an 80% germination viability. That's a whole lotta potential butterfly bushes!! And you do see them growing wild in my area - in the cracks of abandoned parking lots, in vacant lots, along railroad tracks and the sides of the road and freeway verges. And most disturbing are the large colonies of these shrubs found along streamsides and cleared areas throughout western Washington and Oregon. They outcompete native habitat, in particular our native shrub willows, which are the preferred habitat for our native butterfly species. I'm not saying BB is invasive everywhere - again, with any invasive species it is location, location, location! However I know specifically where Cadence is located, which just north of my own location, and plants which are invasive here will also tend to be invasive there. As part of a consumer awareness program sponsored by our state invasive species council, the regional professional landscape and nursery association and a consortium of local retail nurseries, a publication recommending alternate suggestions for invasive plants has been made available. Substitutes for BB include west coast natives Ceanothus and Pacific ninebark as well as chaste tree. And of course, the new sterile BB cultivars recently introduced to the consumer market. Here is a link that might be useful: Butterfly bush in western WA...See MoreToo late to prune the Butterfly Bush?
Comments (8)Agreed, BB's should be left alone until you see new growth in the spring. Yours looks fantastic! Great job! Those pieces on the ground each want to grow a new bush for you... (enable, enable...) Mine were green all winter and one of them has buds that should open in the next few days. It's wild how early everything is happening in most places. I swear when I lived in OH (5b), it was the norm for BB's to just start showing leaves about this time, mid-April. Am I remembering correctly? Since BB's produce buds on old and new growth, and they do it rapidly all summer, there shouldn't be any fear about removing buds or delaying flowering, especially in this, the year without a winter. Even mid-summer when I'm deadheading, I'm very generous with the cuts when I see weaker, smaller buds in front of a much more robust node, and usually remove that inferior set. Once the branches get too long, they seem to lose their oomph. Still end up with a bush that's taller than me....See MorePruning Butterfly Bushes
Comments (2)If you want a treelike buddleia, B. lindleyana does well when limbed up and has very long clusters of lavender flowers over a long season. However, it suckers profusely. I'll have them at the plant swap Sunday....See MoreButterfly Bush pruning
Comments (13)You don't have to ever prune a rose of sharon, but if you choose to here is some good advice I found online: If, however, you decide that you absolutely have to prune your plant, the best time is from late March through early May, before the leaf buds open and begin to expand. Pruning in early spring will encourage additional side shoots to form. This should translate into more flowers in July and August, as flower buds will form on many of these new shoots....See MorenatureinspiredM_ 6B NJ
8 years agonatureinspiredM_ 6B NJ
8 years agonatureinspiredM_ 6B NJ
8 years ago
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