Marianne's Response

patoatessr’s Question

put 3 butterfly bushes in the ground in the fall – southwestern CT, zone 5, noticed a greening and budding in late March/early April. Now all 3 look dead after some real up and down weather. Advice? Thanks

Posted by Patrick Oates on May 6, 2017

Marianne's Response

The spring weather in your area damaged lots of tender spring growth. Butterfly bushes or buddleja are pretty tough and hardy so I suggest you just wait and soon new growth will try again to sprout on the shrubs. If you don\'t see any new foliage by June, cut the shrubs back to within one foot from the ground. Sometimes this will shock them into some new growth. Still no signs of life? We all need more compost. Dig and replace those shrubs but this time plant in the spring so the plants will be well established before winter hits. Keep growing, Marianne Binetti