I looked on the internet for advice about pruning buddleia because I
thought a family member had not pruned hers hard enough - she had left
one main stem about 3' high and thinner stems abhout 1'-2'. I said I
*thought* she should take all stems back to the lowest new sprouting and
she said there hadn't been any when she pruned, but there is now.

However, this is what I read at the first site to come up:

"...cut all of the branches back to the ground in early spring ..." then
"...stems should be at least a foot tall. Stop pruning once your stems
are about a foot in length..."

Unless there is a crucial difference between a "stem" and a "branch"
this seems to be totally contradictory, but what, then, is the
difference? If a "piece of growth" is cut back to the ground where is
there a stem which is to be left at a foot long?

Please can someone yay or nay to cutting all the existing "lengths of
wood" back to the lowest buds.
--
Jenny M Benson
Wrexham, UK