Butterfly bushes are the stars of the summer garden, with some varieties keeping the show going all the way into early October. When they’re happy, these shrubs put on a massive display of blooms. Of course, those individual flower spikes don’t last forever, and as they fade, they can make the bush look a little messy. That’s your cue to grab your garden shears!
Why should you deadhead faded blooms?
If you snip off the spent flowers as you go, you won’t be stuck with a massive cleanup job at the end of the season. Plus, it keeps the plant looking sharp. More importantly, it tells the shrub to stop putting energy into making seeds and instead focus on producing more flowers. Here’s how to do it right:
- Clean up wilted spikes during the blooming season to let more light reach the buds underneath.
- Try to cut them back before they start forming seeds.
- Always use sharp, clean pruners to prevent spreading any plant diseases.
- Make your cut at a slight angle just above the next set of buds; this helps rainwater slide right off the stem.
- In the fall, give this year’s flowered stems a good, hard trim.
- Don’t toss the clippings in your compost pile! The seeds can survive and spread from there, so it’s best to put them in the trash.
Dealing with self-seeding
Those gorgeous flower spikes eventually turn into seed pods packed with thousands of tiny seeds. Once they ripen, the wind carries them all over the neighborhood. Since these seeds are incredibly winter-hardy, they’ll sprout just about anywhere next spring. If you don’t stay on top of it, your garden beds can get overrun by wild butterfly bush seedlings pretty quickly.
How to stop seeds from forming
The best way to prevent your butterfly bush from taking over is to stop the seeds from ripening in the first place. Just keep up with regular deadheading before those pods develop. An added bonus? Cutting back the old flowers actually encourages the shrub to bloom again, often extending your flower power by another week or two.
If you actually *want* to grow new plants from seed, just leave a few flower heads on the bush to ripen. Harvest them right before they pop open. This way, you get the seeds you want for next spring without letting them blow all over your yard!
