The degree of shoot branching in $Arabidopsis$ is determined by the activation of axillary buds. Bud activity is regulated by diverse environmental and developmental signals, often mediated via plant hormones, including auxin, strigolactone and cytokinin. The transcription factor $BRANCHED1$ ($BRC1$) has been proposed to integrate these regulatory signals. This idea is based on increased branching in $brc1$ mutants, the effects of bud-regulating hormones on $BRC1$ expression, and a general correlation between $BRC1$ expression and bud growth inhibition. These data demonstrate the important role of $BRC1$ in shoot branching, but here we show that in $Arabidopsis$ this correlation can be broken. Buds lacking $BRC1$ expression can remain inhibited and sensitive to inhibition by strigolactone. Furthermore, buds with high $BRC1$ transcript levels can be active. Based on these data, we propose that $BRC1$ regulates bud activation potential in concert with an auxin transport-based mechanism underpinning bud activity. In the context of strigolactone-mediated bud regulation, our data suggest a coherent feed-forward loop in which strigolactone treatment reduces the probability of bud activation by parallel effects on $BRC1$ transcription and the shoot auxin transport network.