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Can I cut back part of my butterfly bush now?
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Posted by jayco 5b NY (My Page) on Sun, Nov 8, 09 at 16:17
| I know I'm supposed to wait until spring to cut it back, so that the top growth can help it through the winter. However, this particular butterfly bush has grown so large that it's now overshadowing a fothergilla that I need to cover with deer netting over the winter. (The deer love it but seem to leave the buddleia alone.) In any case, it will be a lot easier to cover the fothergilla if I can cut back about half the canes of the butterfly bush. BUT I really like the butterfly bush, so if you all tell me that will jeopardize it, I'll struggle around it. Thanks. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Can I cut back part of my butterfly bush now?
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| I'd advise not cutting it back. Just wrap the netting around the Fothergilla and attach to the Buddleia as well. The deer are not going to duck under the Buddleia to get to the fothergilla. They can't see the black netting, and feeling it but not knowing exactly where it is is very unpleasant to them since they can't tell whether they might get caught up in it. |
RE: Can I cut back part of my butterfly bush now?
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| Thanks, that's good advice, I can tie the back of the netting to the humungous butterfly bush! |
RE: Can I cut back part of my butterfly bush now?
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| Try using clothes pins. Much easier than tying. |
RE: Can I cut back part of my butterfly bush now?
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| How much do you cut them back in the spring? I didn't cut mine back at all last year (first year I had them) but even with the cold winter, they seemed to do well this spring. |
RE: Can I cut back part of my butterfly bush now?
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| Clothes pins -- good idea! I've been using twist ties.... Lavender lass, I cut my butterfly bush back to 6-12 inches in the spring, and it grows to 6-7 feet every summer. It's very vigorous! |
RE: Can I cut back part of my butterfly bush now?
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| Wow, that's big. Mine are about 2'-3' right now. Maybe they grow bigger as they get older? They must look like lilacs :) |
RE: Can I cut back part of my butterfly bush now?
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| The heights for the newer varieties tend to be shorter. A couple years ago all of them would go over 6 feet in a season, but now you can find cultivars that stay under 3 feet. I have an Adonis blue that I don't think went much over 2 feet this year.... but I do cut it back down each spring. |
RE: Can I cut back part of my butterfly bush now?
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| In my zone I cut them back now to about 4 feet. They are about 8 to 10 feet high. In the late winter I will recut them to about 1 foot high. One year I cut them to 1 foot at this time of the year and they got "slime flux disease". It eventually grew back from the root but was never a good plant after that. Al |
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