Can I prune my Buddleia now - it looks a mess!

tracyk

Hello - as the title says - I want to prune my Buddleia back (hard) as it looks unsightly.

DH says I might kill it but I'm sure I've pruned it in Autumn before - help please!

Kay_Peel

Yes you can. I do. (I live in the North West)

You can do one of two things:

1. A gentle clip - taking off the dead flowers and a few inches besides. You may find, if its a warm Autumn, that you get another flush of small flowers.

2. I cut the shrub to the height of my waist. It will stop the wind rocking the Buddleia and uprooting it if we have a hard winter. I will prune it harder in March. I shove some of the twigs into the ground, like pea-sticks. Some of them will 'take' - so that's my insurance, without any effort of taking cuttings.

Good luck

tracyk

Thank you so much - I live in Staffordshire so not so far away from you & I will prune it this afternoon while DH is listening to the Stoke match.

I will make a note on my calendar to prune it back hard in March & plant some twigs too :T

MUMMYTO2BOYS

It'll be fine to prune it now. We take the older stems and any straglly ones off right at the bottom and prune the good strong ones to the lowest strong looking set of buds. Doing it like that now means there's no need to prune it in Spring (unless there's any damage over Winter)

It's a fairly hardy shrub, you see it growing in the most unusual places like old chimneys and guttering.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

i 'hack' a buddliea which is just the otherside of wall, and it allways comes back even stronger, regardless of what time of the year i do it...lol.....

gazza975526570

they grow everywhere (normally except where you want them to!). For some reason they appear to love railway lines as the sides of them are full of them.

Yeah give it a good hard prune now and it should come back even stronger

kalj

I'm going to prune my buddliea now, having seen your comments - but does anyone know if it will be ok to dig it up and move it to another area of the garden - it's got too big where it is?

Thanks:rotfl:

jollyanna

Hi Kalj, I've moved youngish Buds before and they seem to be very prone to transplant shock (I think that is the correct term), they will wilt noticably within a few hours but don't give up because they can recover though not quickly. I must say I haven't tried it in the dormant season so by doing it now you may find that come spring it will start shooting normally. I'm down south and mine thrive all year round and seem to create more work than any other shrub I have. Possibly if you move one now, you should prune beforhand so the energy goes to root formation rather than folliage and growth.

knithryn

Buddleia are pretty indestructible in my experience.
If you prune it now it will flower earlier next year than if you prune it later ie Feb. I have two and have tended to prune them at different times to ensure a longer flower time for the bees etc.
You've just reminded me that I need to remove one from my garden. What do you bet I don't get it all removed and a little twig grows into a monster next year?