If you don't prune your buddleia now, you'll miss out on the most beautiful bloom
Created: 07/29/2022, 10:25 am
By: Anne Tessin
Buddleia only cut in the last days of winter?
This is a false assumption that robs butterflies and bees of many blossoms.
© imageBROKER/Wilfried Martin/Imago
You have to cut summer lilac properly so that it remains a butterfly magnet.
Actually, this is a winter task, but that is only half the truth.
Its honey-sweet scent hangs heavily in the air in summer and not only attracts people who sniff it, but also countless butterflies, bumblebees and bees.
The summer lilac is a blooming magnet and it is always an impressive sight when hundreds of butterflies rise from it like a cloud in a gust of wind.
If you also have a so-called butterfly bush in the garden, or are considering getting one of these beautiful shrubs, then you should also know about pruning it.
Because cutting the summer lilac correctly is the key to the most beautiful flowers.
Actually, pruning the summer lilac is a classic task for the last days of winter, when no more severe frosts are to be expected.
Don't save work: what happens if I don't cut the buddleia?
The summer lilac flowers on the new wood.
If you save yourself the work and don't prune your Buddleia, over time it will have more and more old wood and less and less room for new wood with beautiful flower spikes.
So it's no use, you have to use the pruning shears.
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When is the summer lilac cut?
Since the summer lilac flowers on the new wood, you can prune all flowering shoots from the previous year to a finger length in late winter.
Plan to cut back on a frost-free day, no later than mid-February.
If you cut too early, the fresh shoots could freeze.
If you reach for the scissors too late, the shrub will take too long to sprout and you will deprive yourself and all the insects that love it of the sweet summer blossom.
If, on the other hand, you shorten all old shoots in good time, the butterfly bush will sprout strongly and form many large flower candles.
How is the summer lilac cut correctly?
You need:
a pair of sharp pruning shears and a pair of sharp secateurs
First of all, take a good look around your butterfly bush.
Where are shoots too narrow and hinder each other?
Where do you see too thin branches?
Cut these branches back completely to the base so that the shrub does not become too dense and bare on the inside over time, or put too much effort into puny branches.
If the pruning shears are not enough for particularly thick branches, use the saw.
Now shorten the remaining flowering shoots from the previous year so that they cut off above two opposite leaf bases.
As a rule, a stub about a finger long is left behind - yes, you can cut back that radically.
The summer lilac sprout from these leaf bases in spring and this is where the impressive flower candles form.
If you have radically cut back the summer lilac, it is a rather sad sight at first.
Only the basic structure is still there.
But don't worry, now the shrub has enough strength to sprout many new flowering shoots and flowers.
Cutting summer lilacs in summer?
That's why you should do the work yourself
However, this pruning in winter is not the only opportunity when you tackle your summer lilac with secateurs.
Now leave him alone, he will only bloom once and that's it for this year.
However, if you are diligent and regularly remove all faded flower candles, you will ensure that the butterfly bush keeps growing new flowers.
Whether this also applies to hydrangeas is debatable.
The longer flowering period is not only pretty to look at, but also provides bees, butterflies and bumblebees with food for much longer.
So set aside time for this little work once a week.
It's worth it for you and nature.
You should also use the scissors on these three trees in June.