Butterfly bushes also stage the summery flower fairy tale as a standard with picturesque splendour. A comprehensive pruning is part of the care plan every year so that the noble crown on a robust trunk develops well-formed and floriferous. These instructions explain when and how to prune a butterfly tree in an exemplary manner.

A professional pruning ensures rich flowering

The best time is in spring

A Buddleia will bloom on this year's shoots, regardless of whether it's a shrub or a tree. This behavior makes spring the perfect time to cut. Exhausted or frozen wood can be trimmed at your own discretion on a frost-free day without destroying valuable flower buds.

Powerful pruning for opulent abundance of flowers

A butterfly tree boasts a flowering crown when young shoots dominate on the stable framework. The skilled hand of the master gardener brought up the refinement of trunk and crown. From now on, it is up to the home gardener to preserve the shape of the crown and the willingness to bloom with the right pruning. This is how the gardening project succeeds:

  • Cut back faded side branches of the main branches to 2 to 4 eyes
  • Shorten overly long skeletal shoots by a third to just above an outward-facing bud
  • Thin out frozen, dead or cross-growing shoots

In terms of continuous revitalization, we recommend removing an old leading branch on the astring from the fourth year of growth. In return, select a young side shoot along the stem extension as a successor. The ideal candidate is characterized by oblique to horizontal growth at an angle of about 60° to the stem extension.

Clean faded flowers - that's how it works

In regions with mild winters, butterfly bushes are feared as neophytes with an invasive urge to spread. Transforming into capsule fruits, the large flower spikes contain myriads of seeds. Don't you fancy a garden full of wild buddleia? Then put a stop to self-sowing in good time. That is how it goes:

  • Cut off wilted flower spikes as soon as possible
  • Start scissors over the next opposite pair of leaves or a strong bud

Please do not dispose of ripe capsule fruits on the compost. From here, the hardy, frost-resistant seed finds its way into the bed to subdue the garden in the form of seedlings.

Remove wild stem shoots

A butterfly tree is the horticultural combination of a wild base as a trunk and a refined crown. Under ideal conditions, the rootstock makes no secret of its desire to overgrow the crown. The bold undertaking can be recognized by the lateral shoots directly from the trunk. So that the corolla can unfold unhindered, wild stem shoots are removed promptly. Cut off a Wildling at the base without damaging the stem bark.

tips

If your butterfly tree (Buddleja davidii) is a graft from a hanging summer lilac (Buddleja alternifolia), there is a risk of confusion when cutting. Buddleia blooms on the shoots of the previous year. For this reason, a vigorous pruning in the spring is prohibited. Overly long crown shoots can be cut back immediately after flowering. Deadwood is the reason for a clearing cut in late winter.

Category:

Animals in the garden