BEST WAY TO PRUNE BUDDLEIA

[Paul Harfield]

I know this question probably gets asked every year
I am aware the accepted method of pruning Buddleia is to prune hard in the spring, but I have seen occasional references to pruning in the autumn as well. Does Autumn pruning serve any useful purpose
I have one potted 'davidii' which is a two year old cutting. It flowered for the first time this year, but has now pretty much finished. It is about 0.5 metre in size. My intention is to keep it potted. I also have another which I think is 'globosa', a new cutting which I obviously will not prune till next year.
Comments appreciated

[Susie]

I used to prune lightly in autumn and harder in spring but now I don't prune in autumn at all and leave the flower heads as food for birds and a home for bugs over winter.

I do prune the dead flowers away during the summer and get a smaller second flowering now.

I also stagger pruning in the spring and my royal red is only coming into flower now. My first buddleia started flowering in may.

[ChrisC]

royal red? don't know that one. time to google

[Susie]

Royal red is a good one. I massacred it in spring and thought I'd killed it but its bounced back strongly.