When

• Butterfly bushes can be pruned all year but thrive when pruning is done in late winter or early spring. This allows the plant to use stored food and energy to make new shoots and blooms for the current spring and summer season.
  
  

Techniques

• There are two basic techniques for pruning bushes. The first is thinning. The gardener removes branches or twigs at the lowest point of origin. The second for of pruning is called gradual renewal pruning. To prune this way the gardener cuts all weak and dead stems from the bush.
  
  

Cuts

• The plant should receive cuts from clean tools. Branches should be cut as close as possible to mothering branch at a 45degree angle. Avoid ripping or tearing the branch, as this will allow insects and disease to enter the plant rapidly. Water plant thoroughly after pruning to encourage new growth.