Butterfly Bushes-best time to prune?

Hello All--I need some help. All My butterfly bushes got very tall this year for some reason. They looked great till some rain/wind storms came through during the summer which caused them to lay over. The laying over doesn't look bad at all but I don't need them spreading out like they are. So I wanted to cut them back. When is the best time to trim or prune them? And how far back can I prune them without hurting them? Any advise will be appreciated. Thanks! :)

you can prune them back 6-12" in the fall or spring! Or you can leave them a tad taller-I do both ways and see which one produces better!.

Fantastic! Thank you Dori for your help. :) My butterfly bushes are still blooming their heads off but they look so pitiful laid over like they are--well they don't look that pitiful lolol but I would like for them to look better to start next year's garden. Right now they look strained being laid over as tall as they are. Do you think if I waited till after the first frost (which will probably kill most the blooms) and then pruned, that would be okay?

I can tell you that back in the UK we had budlea coming up in cracks in the paving and all over. Hacked them back to the ground and up they came again. It doesn't seemt to matter when you cut them except you would lose some of the blossom if it was mid summer.
Buddlea here in Texas seem to be small and bushy rather than tall and leggy, had them up to 15 feet high in England. That of course means they could snap off in strong winds because even though the stem looked really thick it was actually hollow. Are small ones normal over here or is it just the places I've looked?

Monica, I would not prune until after winter. If you prune short now and get some killing freezes, you won't have much left. Of course, you could cut back some now and prune again in spring.

I pruned in spring, but not as low as 6-12"... more like 2 feet. Of course, I was a full zone colder in Asheville.

Country I prune my nearly weekly during the growing season.....the more you prune the more blooms you get. I just did the final season pruning on Sunday. Took them from 6 ft down to about 2 ft.
They are turly one of the most forgiving of all the flowering shrubs.

I was going to agree with RikerBear -- I'm constantly lopping off bits and pieces of my flutterby bushes. They don't seem to mind at all. Often, I'll root the cuttings by sticking them in the ground next to the "mother" plant. I wouldn't prune now until after your last frost, but other than that, I think of buddlea as giant bonsai.

Thank you All for your help and info on the butterfly bushes. :)

What I do (and I know some professional gardners would think I'm evil for saying this) is prune just about everything any time after the leaves drop...as in, when they're dormant. Of course, you have to deal with blooming issues if you're pruning something that blooms on OLD growth, but that's certainly not the case with butterfly bushes. They bloom on new growth and they tend to grow like crazy. So of course you can guess my recommendation :) LOL Whack that thing down as soon as you're ready...even if the guy is still growing in fall. You're not going to kill a butterfly bush buy pruning it too soon. Not unless there's something really wrong to begin with. And I take mine down to about 6 to 12 inches - just my personal preference. No need to go lower than that anyway.

I was a little worried about pruning in the past. but then I got to thinking....wait a minute...grass is a plant, and I cut that stuff down every week!...and it's fine. Granted, grass is grass, not a woody plant...but still. So I've sort of become a pruning fool when I get in the mood :) Only a very few plants will I not prune much...because they're known to be slow growers and not take well to pruning. But for the most part, my Felco 2 pruners show no mercy in this garden...hehe

So anyway...whack that dude down whenver you want :) I'll be leaving my butterfly bushes go until early spring. I don't have time to fool with it right now, and since it's cold here, they'll be better off with a little more winter protection anyway :)

This message was edited Jan 20, 2005 8:54 AM

Where is Monica? Has anyne heard from her?
Hope everything is OK with her.
HC-That's what I do with my BB's. I am a compulsive pruner. Anything that blooms on new growth is fair game. If it starts looking raggedy, prune it. In fact, it is often the way I deal with insects instead of pesticides. Lots easier and cheaper, too.