can I prune buddleia now?

15 years ago

I was away from home this spring so did not get my buddleia pruned. They are very tall and wide and crowding my viburnums. This is a two year old bed. What happens if I prune/cut them back now? And if so, do I just prune/shape or actually cut some branches at the base of plant?

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Comments (6)

porkchop_z5b_MI
15 years ago
They bloom on new wood, so it would be fine to cut back now - but flowering will be delayed, obviously. I wouldn't drastically prune, though; rather, just prune/trim back to size needed for this season.
terrene
15 years ago
I don't think it would do much harm to prune them minimally to relieve the Viburnums. Perhaps no more than 20-30% of the wood. However, I think that you could do serious harm to the plant to cut off much more of its foliage now, especially in our zone which is borderline hardy for Buddleia.

My Black Knight is in full bloom. The only pruning I'm doing is deadheading.
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woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
15 years ago
I agree that pruning to give the viburnum some room would be fine, but not a severe cutting back at this time of year. If you shorten some of the stems, it will force the side stems on those branches to develop. I do that deliberately to make the shrubs bushier. If you keep deadheading for instance, every time to cut off a flower, the two dormant buds on either side will develop and flower - so you remove one spent flower and get two in return! About a month ago, I cut about 6" off the ends of all the branches to force more sideshoots to develop and flower.
lizbeth-gardener
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks all for taking time to answer! I will just do the shaping/pruning at this time.

Liz
ditas
15 years ago
Hi Liz ~ the exact thing happened to me one year ~ finding my BD all filled, budded & ready to flash! Armed w/ lopper & by-pass pruners I selectively pruned what should have been cut down, if only I was around. It was a feat ... mission was accomplished w/ some breakage but BD was not bothered what so ever. As mxk3 posted, BDs bloom on new wood!

I love the Butterflies & Hummers they bring ~ so didn't mind the pain of the feat!
mamasllamas
15 years ago
i just cut back my sons he didn't prune it this spring and it was wide and the center was opened up from the branches being so heavy in bloom, i gave it a hair cut to get it back into a bush, nothing drastic just getting it from splaying out in the center , it looked like someone had sat in the center of it, by releaving it of it's long branches it lifted it back up into shape, it sure did have some pretty blooms this year its second year growing.