Butterfly Bush ??

Watch Reply
More
Mark unread Print Skip to new
MOLLYBEE Villa Rica, GA(Zone 7a) Feb 13, 2002

What do I need to do to it to get it ready to bloom this year?? Do they usually loose all their leaves in the winter? B/c mine still has green leaves on it. Do I need to cut it back?? and if so When?
TIA
Mollybee

Post #23088
Quote
Baa Feb 13, 2002

Molly

If we are talking about Buddleia then we usually cut ours back about March but then most of the bad weather has gone by then and its just rainy, you don't have to cut it back if you don't want to. How old is it? In my experience they are quite happy to bloom away with very little care.

Post #210586
Quote
louisa Troy, VA(Zone 7a) Feb 13, 2002

Molly my Davidii has also kept it's leaves this winter - I'm amazed!! Baa is right about cutting back or not to cut back. All the books say to cut it back quite hard early March and if it's a young shrub then I would do just that to encourage it to be bushier and stronger. If it has a good framework already, then leave it alone for now and see if it blooms profusely. If not, then cut it back next year!!

Post #210618
Quote
pebble Bodrum, Turkey(Zone 10a) Feb 13, 2002

Mine have kept their leaves too.
I'm going to train a couple of mine to be like trees.

Post #210626
Quote
philomel Castelnau RB Pyrenée, France(Zone 8a) Feb 13, 2002

As i understand it, the reason to cut buddleia is so that the blooms are closer to eye level. If you don't they get so tall the blooms are way up and out of view (and you can't stick your nose on them either lol). so as Baa and Louisa say, it's up to you - depends on vigour and what you want from them :)

Post #210631
Quote
Azalea Jonesboro, GA(Zone 7b) Feb 13, 2002

I like to keep the low branches off too so it will be more like a tree. Otherwise they get so spread out and wild looking. Besides I don't have a lot of space, I just think they are neater looking. I will only trim off the top to shape it up, almost did it today, but the computer stole my time, lol. Then hopefully I can root the cuttings.

Post #210691
Quote
MOLLYBEE Villa Rica, GA(Zone 7a) Feb 13, 2002

Thanks ya'll! It is a Buddleia, and it is still fairly young. It was a 2' cutting last spring. Actually it done pretty good last year but I just wasn't sure about how to tend to it now. I am thinking about cutting it back a little bit and maybe trying to root the pieces that I cut off. It seems like a easy rooting plant, so maybe I can have more of them to put in and around my yard. Maybe once I get enough of them, I can try trading for cuttings of a different color. Seems like I got stuck with too much purple last year. LOL

Post #210701
Quote

Post a Reply to this Thread

Please or sign up to post.
Back to Forum Homepage

More Beginner Gardening Threads

Go to all Beginner Gardening threads
BACK TO TOP