Butterfly Bush - Pruning, Winter Care and Fertilizing - Hawks Landscape, Inc. (2024)

FAQs

Do I cut back a butterfly bush for winter? ›

Regarding your butterfly bush (Buddlia), you are safe to prune it at either time as long as it is late winter moving into early spring. Avoid pruning though in early winter. The reason being, the stems are hollow and any water that accumulates in the stem and subsequently freezes will cause the wood to split.

Allow your plant to go dormant in the winter, and don't cut it back. Water sparingly and deeply before the expected frost if rainfall is scarce in your area. Add a thick layer of mulch around the base of the plant to help insulate the roots during freeze-thaw cycles.

We recommend applying a granular rose or garden fertilizer in early spring, then again in late spring and early summer. Never fertilize a butterfly bush past late July, as doing so can interfere with dormancy. The best time to prune butterfly bushes is in spring, once the new growth begins to emerge on the stems.

Pruning and Deadheading

Deadheading your plants means snipping off any browning flower clusters to encourage more flowering though the bloom season. Butterfly bushes bloom best on younger, vigorous growth and later in the season.

Their roots are sensitive to rotting, and if they spend any amount of time in wet soil, they can be set back or even die. Most of the time, if you lose a butterfly bush after winter, it wasn't due to low temperatures or snow or ice – it was because the plant sat in cold, wet soil in fall or spring.

Depending on how cold your winters, get there's 2 ways to store your potted Butterfly bush during the winter. If you live in a climate where the temperature doesn't get below 32 °F (0 °C), you can keep your butterfly bush outdoors in a sheltered spot, protected from rain and harsh weather.

If it's late in the spring and you discover dead growth on your butterfly bush, prune it away. New growth can only come from living stems, and this should encourage it to start growing. Don't do it too early, though. A bad frost after this kind of pruning can kill back all that healthy living wood you've just exposed.

Butterfly bushes are perennial plants that die back to the ground every winter. They then send out new growth from the roots in the spring. You can prune them either in the late fall or in the early spring before the new growth starts. It is best to prune them back to about 12 inches from the ground.

Liquid fertilizers (such as Miracle Gro) are mixed with water and applied the same as you would water the plant (see product for specific details). This should be done three or four times per year starting in late April and ending in mid July.

A. Coffee grounds are a good source of slow-release nitrogen. They can be worked directly into the soil around your plants or added to your compost heap.

How to make butterfly bush bushier? ›

To prune your butterfly bush, make an angled cut above where you see large leaf buds or new healthy growth is emerging. Since butterfly bush blooms on new wood, the bigger the bud you're cutting back to, the more vigorous growth you can expect!

Butterfly bushes should be cut back to a foot tall to promote new growth and the best blooms. You can cut the shrub back to ground level; however, you take the risk of late frost or freeze killing new growth and losing the plant. Hard pruning is done in late February or early March depending on your climate.

They can also be pruned in summer to encourage new blooms, or just to tame untidy growth. For non-dwarf butterfly bushes, cut back to 12 to 24 inches and remove any dead or broken branches. (Or cut back nearly to the ground. Butterfly bushes will still resprout and bloom!)

PRUNING BUTTERFLY BUSH

In mild climates, prune larger varieties in late fall or early spring to clean up and maintain shape. In cold climates, treat as perennials, cutting back close to the ground in late winter or early spring. Flower spikes form on new wood, so watch for new growth if pruning in spring.

Its popularity has real reasons: the plant grows fast, flowers very early on in its life cycle, and produces flowers throughout its life span of up to 30 years. The flowers smell good, are very showy and pretty, with large clusters that bloom for several days.