Gardeners’ Forum: “pruning butterfly bush”
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Posted by peter on Thursday, October 11, 2007 6:29 pm ADTI getting the butterfly bush ready for winter. It's a couple of yr's old and never been puned. How far to the ground do I cut it?
re: pruning butterfly bush
Posted by Patricia on Friday, October 12, 2007 10:13 pm ADTI have 3 butterfly bushes and I prune them 7-8" off the ground in the spring. I never prune in the fall because someone I knew did and it died. Good-luck
re: pruning butterfly bush
Posted by Nicole on Sunday, October 28, 2007 6:22 pm ADTWe grow Buddleias for the Monarchs and other butterflies. There are 4 mature BBs on the property, and this year we added another 20+ which were grown from seed. As Patricia states, your BB should only be pruned in the spring. Mine are pruned to a foot from the ground. Pruning them in the fall will kill them - a mistake I made a couple of years ago.
re: pruning butterfly bush
Posted by Niecey on Thursday, January 17, 2008 6:38 pm ASTMaybe we had a mild winter that year but pruned my BB one year in the fall and it came back alive and kicking. Every spring I prune my butterfly bush almost to the ground and always grow over 7 feet by the fall.
re: pruning butterfly bush
Posted by Sheila on Saturday, October 25, 2008 4:14 pm ADTI prune mine to the ground every fall and every spring it comes back big and full!! I cut it down and cover with leaves and small plastic bin. I live in London, Ontario, Canada and we have very cold winters. Mine always comes back!!
re: pruning butterfly bush
Posted by Tyler on Saturday, October 25, 2008 8:49 pm ADTThe point is, anything lower than a zone 6, the buterfly bush is PROBABLY going to pretty much die down to the ground over winter anyway, so you might as well cut it down. The amazing thing about the B bush, is that it will come up from nothing, grow to at least 6 feet and bloom beautifully in late summer!
