# Did I just kill/maim my butterfly bush? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 24, 2008, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-kill-maim-my-butterfly-bush/446685 "2008-04-24T15:06:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Avarie537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@Avarie537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avarie537)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-kill-maim-my-butterfly-bush/446685/1 "2008-04-24T15:06:17Z")
I was doing some flower bed cleanout this morning and decided to cut back the butterfly bush. I had been meaning to do it for a long time, but hadn’t gotten around to it. After removing a few largish branches, I noticed new leaves at the base of the plant (hidden by the dandelions at first) and some leaf buds further out. Can I continue to cut it back and re-shape it and still have growth this year, or should I stop now before it’s all the way gone? ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-kill-maim-my-butterfly-bush/446685/2 "2008-04-24T15:46:30Z")
Lop it down. You can’t kill those things, and they regrow from anywhere above soil on the plant. ---
**Author:** ![Avarie537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@Avarie537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avarie537)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-kill-maim-my-butterfly-bush/446685/3 "2008-04-24T16:07:40Z")
[QUOTE=Acid Lamp] Lop it down. You can’t kill those things, and they regrow from anywhere above soil on the plant. [/QUOTE] Thanks! Off to grab the shears. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-kill-maim-my-butterfly-bush/446685/4 "2008-04-24T16:07:44Z")
Woah…I just did this EXACT same thing last night. Right down to the “I had been meaning to do it for a long time” part. Before I commenced to cutting, I called my uncle who is the guy who planted it and my resident plant expert (and butterfly expert, too!) He had told me to cut it down to 6"-8" previously, before it budded, but last night he said cut it to about a foot. I asked what about all of the small branches coming off the large trunks I was cutting down to a foot, and he suggested leaving a few inches of branch and trimming past the first bud or two. **Acid Lamp** is right, tho. It will regrow. Last year it was just a tiny plant in the soil in the spring and it grew to a massive 4-foot bush by the end of the summer. ---
**Author:** ![Avarie537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@Avarie537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avarie537)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-kill-maim-my-butterfly-bush/446685/5 "2008-04-24T16:08:58Z")
[QUOTE=ZipperJJ] Woah…I just did this EXACT same thing last night. Right down to the “I had been meaning to do it for a long time” part. Before I commenced to cutting, I called my uncle who is the guy who planted it and my resident plant expert (and butterfly expert, too!) He had told me to cut it down to 6"-8" previously, before it budded, but last night he said cut it to about a foot. I asked what about all of the small branches coming off the large trunks I was cutting down to a foot, and he suggested leaving a few inches of branch and trimming past the first bud or two. **Acid Lamp** is right, tho. It will regrow. Last year it was just a tiny plant in the soil in the spring and it grew to a massive 4-foot bush by the end of the summer. [/QUOTE] Ours was in a little four inch pot and was maybe 10 inches tall when we got it. It was a good 4-5 feet tall with a 6-8 foot spread by the fall. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-kill-maim-my-butterfly-bush/446685/6 "2008-04-24T21:31:50Z")
I was sure this thread was going to have something to do with shaving. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-kill-maim-my-butterfly-bush/446685/7 "2008-04-24T22:01:00Z")
Assuming the roots are healthy (and how would you know, anyway), the bush will leap back to life this spring. If the roots weren’t healthy, it would have died this summer, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-kill-maim-my-butterfly-bush/446685/8 "2008-04-25T01:52:17Z")
We cut ours down to about 4-6" every March and it’s a six-foot monster again by late summer. ---
**Author:** ![VernWinterbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c67d28/32.png) [@VernWinterbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VernWinterbottom)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-kill-maim-my-butterfly-bush/446685/9 "2008-04-25T02:33:10Z")
For years I’ve been cutting the whole thing to about a foot above ground level in late winter and it’s high over my head by the time it blooms. Years ago a friend of mine bought a mail-order butterfly bush from Wayside Gardens. The instructions were to plant it, then cut it back to about a foot tall. He did so and stuck all the cut off sticks into a bucket of wet sand and rooted almost every darned one of 'em. He ended up with quite a few bushes for the price of one. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-kill-maim-my-butterfly-bush/446685/10 "2008-04-25T04:39:33Z")
Depends on where you are. Zones \>/=6, you need a flamethrower and a backhoe to get rid of a buddleia. \ **Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2008, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-kill-maim-my-butterfly-bush/446685/11 "2008-04-26T00:02:10Z") [QUOTE=lissener] Depends on where you are. Zones \>/=6, you need a flamethrower and a backhoe to get rid of a buddleia. \