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#369890 May 16th, 2013 at 08:55 PM
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Ditchy Offline OP
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I have 3 Exceptionally large ones, and in the fall I always cut back all the dead flowers.
But it seems thet are all woody now, And I know we had a late start here, but I wonder how long I should give them before I really prune them back hard, I realize they are late growers but I only have some leaves showing on the very bottom of the branches. Ideas?


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Ditchy #369898 May 16th, 2013 at 10:33 PM
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I have always read that one should prune back the butterfly bushes late February to early March. I have done this for the 20 years we've lived in this house and they always grow huge.

That said... my husband hates these bushes. Mostly because I had a few that grew outside their boundaries and he hated mowing under them. So last year I actually cut them back twice. I had a late start because my mom passed away in April, and I had to drive the hour distance to the hospital every day, so I didn't have any time for gardening. So the first cutback was late April. Then I cut them back once again in late May, after they started getting long stems. They did flower just a bit later than usual, but they were full with lots of blooms.

This year, I cut them back late February during a warm spell, and lower than usual. They are now filling out nicely. I will probably do it again in a week or so just to keep them in check again.

I did lose 2 bushes that were in the center of 9. I have a garden area just outside my walk-out basement doors and these bushes give nice privacy from the neighbors. The center ones were probably the oldest, plus we had a lot of ice and snow this past winter, not to mention Hurricane Sandy.

Good luck with your bushes. Some of your wood could be dead - I had to trim out some of mine. But as long as there are green stems coming out, the plant is still alive. I do the scratch test to see what is dead and what is alive - scratch your fingernail or a shovel edge along the stem or trunk. If you do not see green under the outer layer, then that part is probably dead.


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Ditchy Offline OP
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Thanks! I am going to prune them back HARD tomorrow. I> had never done it earlier than April, But they are out of control so if one dies I can deal.
LAst year the one at the end of the driveway was almost 4 feet high, and about that wide around. Big gorgeous Purple blooms, bloomed to Oct.
I have 4 and they are all from one lone plant I got from a mail order catalog 13 years ago, so they owe me nothing! LOL flwr


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Ditchy #369927 May 17th, 2013 at 11:19 AM
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Good luck with the pruning! I, too, have lots of bushes from the first 2 I bought. Not only have I made new bushes from cuttings, but they self seed all over and I let them grow a bit and pot them up. I have shared so many bushes with friends and family - they are planted all over NY, NJ, and Connecticut.

By the way, I am about to cut mine back a second time for this year. I noticed today that they are growing very quickly, so if I want to control the size somewhat, I'd better do it soon. Mine have gotten so high that it's hard for me to deadhead them, which I like to do often as it increases more blooms for a longer period of time.


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