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buddleia pruning

Hi all,

I have a large buddleia in my wildlife garden and a lot of it is dead, how hard should I prune it back and when?

 

Thanks for any help,

Justin

Posts

  • You can cut a bit off it now to reduce the chance of wind rock over winter, but the main pruning time is at the beginning of spring, down to about 2 foot

  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445

    Traditionally buddleias are cut back as hard as you like in spring. I shorten mine in autumn to avoid trashing by storms in winter. 

    Anything that's dead should be cut off when you find it's dead. 

    But do you mean the flowers are dead rather than part of the shrub?



    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117

    Do you mean dead or just finished flowering Justin?

    Buddleias are normally pruned in late winter/early spring as they flower on the new wood produced, but in autumn you can cut back branches by about a third as it prevents them being battered by wind and getting uprooted over the winter - windrock. I often trim branches back to a good pair of buds after flowering anyway, especially on older, established plants.

    They're tough old shrubs so you can prune bits out that are congested or damaged without doing any harm. image

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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