A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Landscape trials and triumphs Butterfly and Bird Gardens butterfly bush needs help!!!

My butterfly bush is lopsided! It arrived in a 3 in. pot 2 years ago and was great the first year. Last year branchs started dying on just one side. I pruned then back hoping it would recover, this did not happen. The plant is in full sun and gets plenty of water and there are no pest on or around the plant. I went on and pruned again yesterday(cut all the dead off), in hopes that this year will be better. The rest of the plant is healthly. But it is lopsided. and this makes that one side stay real low to the ground.Last year I tried to brace it up with twine in hopes of forcing it to grow upright instead of just out and down. This did not work. I live in Texas, and this is my first experience with this plant. I want to have many more, but need to figure out where I went wrong first. Any info would be great!

Hi Tuesday,, Welcome to the forum!!

I live in Tx also

I trimmed mine back in the spring when it started putting out New leaves,, it will help it grow fuller and promote blooms!,,
a You said you've already trimmed it back. With the growing season starting now,, all you can do is wait and see if the other side gets new growth,, Keeping My fingers crossed for you,,
There are many here on the Gardenhelper that has More knowledge of B Bushes and may give you better advise of what to do!

Thank you angelblossom. I did not cut the bush all the way back this year,didn't think about it as what there was stayed green all winter, just cut off all the dead. But next year I will try your way and see if it will help. Went out this morning and wedged clay pots under the 2 main branchs as they are about touching the ground. As well as weaved the smaller ones through one another forcing them to grow in the right directions. Now it looks much better and of course fuller. I hope the bracing of the lower branchs will force it to grow up and then out. Only time will tell.

Mine stays Green all winter too But come spring when it shows New growth it's a sign to cut back somewhat here and there,, You did good cutting off the dead branches,, '
Last year I cut off the some of Blooming Branches so it didn't bloom as well,,,, I didn't know about that until recently but it was too late,
Hoping someone here will come along and give you some more advice,, I'm just learning about them myself :wink:

I can't say my pruning regimen here in New Jersey would apply to Texas zones. But I sense it's kind of universal. I prune all my buddleias (butterfly bushes) back to about 5" above the ground (even the huge ones) the first week of April or last of March every year. It pushes new, fuller growth all the time. What were virtual nubs a month ago all have bushy, new green growth now. That's also the time I shape them if I see one side growing in a poor direction. Just saw it right off or lop it if it's thin enough. Buddleias can take a lot of brutality and bounce back just fine.

Bracing and retraining once a plant is more mature can be tricky. B ut as you've found out, can certainly be done. So much of gardening is a lot of "smoke and mirrors". No one knows how many plant supports, how much twine or whatever you've got hidden amongst branches to improve the shape of a plant. Only you do. :wink:

BTW: what color(s) do you have? I've got just about every color and the only one I'm not that fond of is the yellow or Honeycomb variety. A bit too scraggly for my taste despite judicious pruning. Plus, the butterflies weren't all that crazy about it either, and I trust their taste in things like that better than my own. :