Overgrown buddleia

Hi all,

I've got a rather large buddleia in my garden. I don't know how old it is, but the trunk is around 6-inches in diameter at the base, and it's around 12-feet tall... with a spread of more than 15 feet!

I wish to prune it down to about 3-4 feet tall for next year's season, hoping it'll end up 7-8 feet tall by the end of 2009. Whilst buddleias can usually be pruned down severely, I've not heard about a buddleia that's got to such a size!

Has anyone tried pruning down a 12x15-foot buddleia before? What did they try and what was the outcome?

The photo doesn't do it justice, the whole "tree" was alive with purple flowers and bees earlier in the summer. A beautiful sight!

 

I don't think mine is quite that big but last year it was cut back to 4-5 ft round this time of year and it is just as big as it was last year.

 

I remember when I was cutting back buddleja that size at my dads (his perfect garden is concrete...) now i cut them back hard every spring and he gets a flourish of new growth and lots of flowers

 

Chain saw or bow saw, just cut it.

It will come back just as well next year. Personally I cut budliah twice, once in Autumn/ winter then again in late spring.

Dont be afraid to cut it, you will in no way impede next years flowering

 

In my experience they are virtualy indestructable,so I would do as you please.
Me ,I would cut it by two thirds proberbly in October and down to about two feet in the spring.............It will come again

 

Until then,cut off thoses dead flower heads and have the pleasure of more blooms

 

errr Paladin,

I think that might be the problem, its too big to reach the dead flowers.

Agree with previous comments - once in the Autumn and once in the spring. I reckon you need to allow for 4' of growth next year so cut back accordingly. Prune out the dead flowers during the summer for secong flush. No need to be gentle with it - its a thug

For the early flowering buddleia, buddleia alternifolia. prune only after flowering. Great looking plant.

 

Wow, so much advice, all agreeing with one another... makes it easy! Thanks all!

So it sounds like I can cut 10 feet off it, set fire to the stump and cast some sort of curse on it and still expect rapid growth and flowering next summer? Sounds like the sort of shrub a beginner such as myself needs...

As per the advice I'll cut it down by a lot in October and give it another sawing around March. I'll be glad to be able to mow that corner of the lawn without risking permanent eye damage (amazing how many sharp wooden spears I have growing off this thing!). The twisty gnarled branches do lend a somewhat "enchanted" air to that part of the garden though...

Why are buddleias so hardy? Do they have a massive root network that keeps them going after a good pruning, or are they just highly-efficient photosynthesisers?

Anyone got an opinion as to the specific species I've got here? Is this just a standard Chinese buddleia that's grown too big?

 

Certainly! I'd need a crane to get over the crown of it. It's hard to appreciate the size in the photo but that's a fence over 6-feet high in the photo!

Additionally, it spreads over the gardens of THREE neighbours, so I want to broach the subject with each of them before I start hacking bits off. I know it's my plant, but they all have benches/arbours located to enjoy it. I would feel guilty about attacking it before a good pruning is due!

 

Try using a lopper ...and pruning for repeat blooms will keep it in check in the future too!

 

Ours is easily the same size as yours - and we brutalise it. No matter how hard you cut it back, it will put out new growth from the main trunk. Be brave.

 

I cut mine right back early spring every year to keep it under control and it always flowers. 02

 

Any sharp rigid sticks that take your eyes out are probably from a previous year's growth. The new growth is quite soft and flexible, and I can't imagine it taking anyones eyes out. I'd go round with the secateurs or loppers and remove any eye threatening bits.

They are highly efficient. As far as I'm aware the come from the mountains of northern china, so have had to adapt to a wide range of conditions. In my experience they don't form beefy roots on the same scale as many shrubs, in fact I've seen good sized examples growing out of cracks in the brickwork of derelict buildings.

From the pic, it looks like the bog standard Buddleja Davidii, the uncultivated wild variety that grows everywhere. It is very popular with nectar feeding insects like bees, wasps and butterflies. In fact I find it quite amusing that it has earned the title of Butterfly Bush, probably from skilled marketers that didn't want to announce the fact that bees and wasps love it too