Am I Taking Good Care Of My Butterfly Bushes?

Are your butterfly bushes planted somewhere where they can receive at least 6 hours of sunlight?

Are your butterfly bushes planted in fertile soil with good drainage?

Have you been watering your butterfly bushes freely all year long?

Have you been fertilizing your butterfly bushes?

Have you been pruning out spent flower spikes and deadheading faded flowers of your butterfly bushes?

Have you been applying a thin layer of compost around your bushes in springtime?

Have you been heavily pruning your butterfly bushes every spring?

Are you making sure your butterfly bushes are pest-free?

You should consider a better spot for your bush. Buddleias need full sun to grow healthy.

You should consider a better spot for your bush. Buddleias need rich, organic and well-drained soil.

Decrease watering butterfly bushes when they are in dormancy. Water freely when in growth and sparingly otherwise. In the summer, water if rainfall is less than 1 inch per week.

Avoid fertilizing butterfly bush because too much fertility will promote leaf growth over flower production.

Remove spent flower spikes to encourage new shoots and flower buds. It is important to deadhead the flowers just as they start to wither so that this invasive plant doesn’t spread volunteer seeds.

Each spring, apply a thin layer of compost and mulch to retain moisture and control weeds. In cold, Northern climates, spread mulch up to 6 inches deep around the trunk to nurture it through the winter.

Buddleias bloom on new wood, even if there is no die-back, cut them back to the ground every spring. Even where winters are mild enough for the stems to survive, prune severely to stimulate abundant growth on which flowers are borne.

Good job! You are taking good care of your butterfly bushes.

Butterfly bushes are susceptible to capsid bug, caterpillars, weevils, mullein moth, and spider mites. If your bushes are attacked by any of these pests make sure you protect it.