Buddleia pruning

Any advice on shaping my standard buddleia?
I have had it for three years, each year it flowers it is very leggy. I would like it to look like it does in the brochure, all nice, round and compact.

I have cut it back hard in mid march and as you can see the arms are already 1 foot long and there is still ages until flowering. Should I cut it right back again or did I do it to early and will have to wait until next year?

 

Plants react to being cut hard back by growing vigorously, Pip. If you trim back a little bit at a time, you'll gradually get what you want - but if you want flowers, don't trim back before flowering!

 

Thanks dendrobium,
I was all set to go at it in the morning, then I thought of GC and what a good thing I did or I could have ended up with no flowers at all this year :(

 

Well, that would have been a pity, but not the end of the world - and you wouldn't have killed it!
:D

 

I believe Buddleias flower on old wood. So if you trim it before flowering you will lose the flowers. I have heard it suggested on large Buddleias that you can trim back hard half the stems. So you still get some flowers, then next year you do the same again.

 

My experience of Buddleias is that it's dodgy to cut back into wood that is several years old, like lavenders. Flowers grow as has been said, on last years' growth.
If you prune it once it has finished flowering and we have hot weather, you may even get more flowers.
I have a yellow buddleia ['Sungold'] which flowered from June till the first frosts.

 

Pip, is that from a certain catalogue that sells lots of plants from Holland?
If it is I reckon you'll have difficulty getting it to grow as in a picture in the brochure, the pics are all "doctored" in the catalogue I'm thinking off, (cant think of the name).
Buddliea as far as I know is a pretty rampant plant and expecting it to stay small and compact is not realistic.

 

Pete, this is the brochure picture and it is probably the dutch dealer you spoke of.

http://www.vanmeuwen.com/plant/64580

 

It's the nature of the beast Pip I cut mine back to 1ft off the ground late Autumn then in Spring they grow at a rapid rate and flower on this years growth, if you divide the stems that are growing you will get multiple shoots from the leaf axils you will get flower on these shoots but they will be smaller but it will be more compact.

 

I agree with Walnut. I savage mine every February and it comes back every time. I also dead-head continuously after flowering starts as the browned-off flowers look tatty and it produces fresh ones from the leaf axils.

Do you mean the catalogue where everything's bubble-gum pink and plastic turquoise, and the flowers are arranged symmetrically on the plant having been spaced out with a ruler? I know the one. I think most people only buy from them once!

 

Thats not the catalogue I was thinking of Pip but its along the same lines, I seriously doubt that is a real plant in that picture, if it is its probably had growth hormone used on it.
The catalogue I was thinking of is Parkers, some of their plants are OK and not a problem, but the pictures are usually very dodgy.

 

Thanks for all the tips guys, I`ll keep you posted.

 

One point to add, is that the Buddleja most often seen is B. davidii and its multifarious forms. they are pruned as hard as you chose in Feb/March. They flower on wood produced in the current growing season.
Buddleja globosa and its crosses with B. davidii like Sungold, B. alternifolia are pruned after flowering as they produce flowers on wood from the previous season.
There are other Buddleja which I would love to be able to grow but they are just too tender for us.
Bb. colvilei and lindleyana.