Question
Hi Laura,
I am living in a beautiful little bungalow in Hillsborough, North Carolina and was lucky enough to unearth some of the work of a previous gardener who lived here.  Among other things she planted two butterfly bushes.  Both are quite large (at least six feet tall) but both have a lot of dead wood underneath.  They have both bloomed well for most of the summer.

So I have two questions:

1. How do I prune them?  Do I remove the dead wood?  When is the best time to prune them?

2.  What about the spent blooms on them now?  Should they be dead headed or are they ok to leave as they are--although not as attractive as when they are in full bloom.

And any additional info you may want to share about butterfly bushes.

Thanks in advance!
Dana

Answer
Dana,
Here is what I did,bravely or stupidly ,at the time I didn't know.They were getting way out of bounds.I cut them all the way back in the fall to about 2 or 3 feet.That's it.
They were just a bunch of sticks and very unattractive I must say,but the next spring they grew astoundly fast and bloomed just beautifully.Good luck with your beautiful little bungalow and just remember, lots of plants are very forgiving.