The best time is in spring
A butterfly lilac blooms on its shoots this year, regardless of whether it thrives as a shrub or tree. From this behavior, spring results as the perfect time to cut. Exhausted or frozen wood can be cut at your own discretion on a frost-free day without destroying valuable flower buds.
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Powerful pruning for opulent abundance of flowers
A butterfly tree boasts a blossom-rich crown when young shoots dominate on the stable framework. The skilled hand of the master gardener trained the refinement from trunk and crown. From now on, it is up to the home gardener to preserve the crown shape and the ability to flower with the right cut. This is how the horticultural project succeeds:
- Cut back withered branches of the main branches to 2 to 4 eyes
- Shorten excessively long scaffold shoots by a third to just above an outward-facing bud
- Thin out frozen, dead or transversely growing shoots
In the interests of continuous revitalization, we recommend removing an old guide branch on Astring from the fourth year of standing. In return, you choose a young side shoot along the trunk extension as a successor. The ideal candidate is characterized by oblique to horizontal growth at an angle of about 60 ° to the trunk extension.
Cleaning up that has faded - this is how it works
In regions with mild winter conditions, butterfly lilacs are feared as neophytes with an invasive urge to spread. As the large panicles of flowers turn into capsule fruits, they 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 withered flower panicles promptly
- Place scissors over the next opposite pair of leaves or a strong bud
Please do not dispose of ripe capsule fruits in the compost. From here, the resilient, frost-resistant seeds find their way into the bed in order to subjugate the garden in the form of seedlings.
Remove wild trunk shoots
A butterfly tree is the horticultural combination of a wild base as a trunk and a refined crown. Under ideal conditions, the substrate makes no secret of its efforts to overgrow the crown. The brazen undertaking can be recognized by lateral shoots directly from the trunk. Wild stem shoots are removed promptly so that the corolla can develop unhindered. Cut off a wildling at the base without damaging the trunk bark.
Tips
If your butterfly tree (Buddleja davidii) is a refinement from hanging summer lilac (Buddleja alternifolia), there is a risk of confusion when it comes to the cut. Summer lilacs bloom on the shoots of the previous year. For this reason, a strong pruning in spring is prohibited. Over-long crown shoots can be cut back immediately after the flowering period. Deadwood is the reason for a clearing cut in late winter.
