Hello World! Welcome Friends! The buddleia is a popular plant for attracting butterflies to your garden. Butterflies love the nectar of the flowers, which is what attracts them to the plant. Apart from drinking from these purple-blue blooms, butterflies also like to feed on the leaves of the buddleia.
This makes it an attractive option as a landscaping feature in your garden. For easy purchase, instead of going from store to store, why not head over to Gardeners Dream and have your new plant delivered to you with the utmost care.
If you have a butterfly bush already and want to make it grow larger and bushier, here are some steps you can follow:
Cut Back the Stems
In early spring, cut back all stems to about 30cm (12in) from the ground. You can use loppers or a pruning saw. You don’t need to be accurate for this as long as you make sure that the length is not too short.
This will encourage new growth and you’ll have plenty of time for it to develop before summer arrives. It’s a good idea to do this in early spring because this is when the buds are just starting to appear or just starting to burst open.
Remove Damaged & Weak Stems
You should remove any winter-damaged and weak stems at this time, too. To do this:
- Cut back the butterfly bush to a height of 12 – 18 inches by removing larger, older stems and by cutting off some of the early, smaller growth that you’ve allowed to develop into strong branches.
- Prune off any branches that are too close to the ground (no lower than 6 inches) or those that are growing in an undesirable direction (such as straight up). You can also prune out any suckers from their base just above soil level if that will suit your design better.
- Don’t worry about removing all of these – simply do enough pruning until there’s a little bit left and healthy new growth on top.
Observe the Growth
The buddleia should be in flower by mid-summer but if you want to bring on the blooms earlier, you can give the plant a helping hand. In early spring, follow the above steps to prune away any dead or damaged stems and cut back any shoots that are growing in unwanted directions (e.g., towards paths or paved areas).
This will improve air circulation around the plant and allow new growth to develop more quickly – which is a major factor that can affect the growth of the plant, so these steps have have multiple advantages.
Once your buddleia has started flowering, you may notice that its new shoots do not grow as long as they did when the shrub was young. This is normal; new growth will appear from near the base of each stem rather than at its tip after a few years of growth. So no need to worry that you have potentially ruined your Buddleia!
If you don’t see proper growth, then there is a good chance that the soil you are using has pH levels in ranges that are unsuitable for the plant. Make sure to check it again and if there are any discrepancies, fix them as soon as possible.
Conclusion
Now that you have a plan for how to make your plant bushier, it’s time to get started. The steps outlined here should help you achieve a healthy butterfly bush that will grow into a beautiful specimen and live long enough to pass on its genes through seed production.
I hope this guide has been helpful and you enjoyed learning about the care of butterfly bushes!
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Toodles,
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