Deadheading Butterfly Bush - Zone 6A Massachusetts

[musiclvr56]

I read that your butterfly bush will bloom all summer if you deadhead the flowers. I looked at one site for information on how to deadhead and it went over my head-the way it was written seemed complicated. Also, how often should one deadhead?
I appreciate your help.

Thanks
Karen

[bullthistle]

Woody plants cannot be deaheaded like perennials however butterfly bushes are the exception. Woody plants need to grow new stems for it to bloom, blooms on new growth, so the earlier you do it the better off you'll be, however it is still not a perennial. The same can be said of crapemyrtle.

[applestar]

I basically just cut the flower cluster off when most of them turn brown. A pair of new ones will grow from the next node -- you'll probably see them either already growing or starting o grow.

Sometimes, I'm trying to cut a dead flowerhead off and bees, butterflies, or hummingbirds will come and start sipping from the pitiful few flowers left on it, forcing me to back off and wait for them to finish and go tend to more fresh and fully open flower clusters. Hummingbirds will even scold me for reaching for THEIR flowers. (I always picture myself at a restaurant stopping a server from taking away a plate: "Oh, wait! I'm still working on that....")