In order to prolong the blooming season for Butterfly bush, it is necessary to deadhead (cut off) the dead flower heads. A caution here, though; if you are interested in propagating these beautiful bushes you need to leave a few spent flower heads on the bush to go to seed. These bushes do seed themselves if left to their own devices and not mulched below.
This is a flower head ready to be deadheaded. It can be a time consuming process, as there are so many on a mature bush, but one that is well worth the effort. It is now late in September and I still have a few butterflies who continue to visit my bush every day, not to mention all the other insects residing within.
You just snip the stem just below the flower head, and new growth will be seen very soon. In the case of the small blossoms beneath the main shoot, cut just below them.
Here is what the new growth will look like.
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