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Janet Macunovich

So how does YOUR butterfly bush grow...

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...if you don't cut it back in spring?

 

I'll/We'll be bringing others' email over here for a bit, posting here what people send to Steven and me, people who haven't realized we've got a live forum once again.

 

Steven and I are both just thrilled to be able to talk with a group once again!

 

So. B.D. wrote to us

I have a question. What effect does it have on a Butterfly bush - Buddleia davidii if it isn't cut down in the late winter/early spring? I always cut mine but was just wondering.

 

P.S. Nice website!

 

I know what we have seen -- we've handled Buddleia all different ways. But I'm going to go post some of the other emails that have come in during the past few days. If you can contribute to this topic, please do. I'll be back. I've emailed B.D. to say "come on over and watch for replies!

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In my experience, in central to mid Michigan, in most years it won't make any difference if you cut your butterfly bushes (Buddleia) back in fall or wait until spring. In zone 5, butterfly bush "wood" is not winter hardy, but the roots are. So most of the wood will die over winter, and new growth will occur from the base, almost like the non-woody herbaceous perennials. (Be patient - in a cool spring, it will seem like they are taking forever to emerge!) Butterfly bushes bloom on new wood each year, so you won't lose anything by cutting back in fall.

 

In a very mild winter, some of the upper wood may survive, in which case, new growth will appear both at the base of the plant, and from buds on old wood that managed to survive the winter. In that case, you will have what looks like a true shrub. However, you can't count on that in most of zone 5 so I always cut mine back to the ground (either fall or winter, depending on how much I get done in the fall!). If you leave it standing over winter, and you get a mild winter and some wood survives, then you can cut back to live wood when you see the buds emerge along the"branches" in the spring.

 

Another thought - since butterfly bushes (the standard types anyway) get pretty darn big - often growing 8 feet in a single year - you may not want much wood to survive the winter, or you'll have a really big plant that year! And if that happens repeatedly you can get a rather sgraggly looking plant. Another reason why I advise cutting them back to the ground each year.

 

Also, in those rare years where it is brutally cold with no snow cover, even Buddleia roots may not survive. Butterfly bush is a zone 5, not zone 4 plant. In my experience the yellow varieties (B. weyeriana and its hybrids) are less winter hardy than B. davidii types. B. weyeriana is often considerred a zone 6 plant.

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