what a hunt for a small budlia bush! our old ones died so I wanted to replace to photograph butterflies mainly. It took visits to three garden centres before we found this one which was hidden behind poor looking other ones. There was a white one as well but I preferred this. Just got to plant it out now. Sue decided where it should go in the garden
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Nice RS. I have two paler ones growing wild in my garden, where the grass was near the bottom, so I told the gardener to leave them as he had to get rid of the original one as it was breaking the patio wall, he is re-doing my grass area with grass seed & wild flower seeds, making a wild flower meadow at the bottom of my very long garden. They must have come from the original. They aren’t a problem where they are & he’ll re-grass around them so I will still have Buddleia.
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I love Budlia.
Cut them back hard at the end of the season.
Sadly the butterfly population isn’t what it was.
I’m not sure but I think that the white variety have a tendency to revert to the blue once established.
Isn’t that the plant that wrecks brickwork, railway bridges and the like? or am I thinking of something else?
Only causes damage if planted in the wrong place, which is why we went for the smaller variety well away from the house and garden fence
It’s very easy to grow from cuttings
I love the buddleia, beautiful plant, seen by alot as a pest now. If you need anymore your welcome to one of last years cuttings off mine. Rooted but not very big at the moment… it’s the buddleia dark night.
I didn’t think it was possible to kill a Buddleia such a strong shrub.
That is a very kind and nice offer thank you. At the moment Sue “er indoors” says she can’t find room for it in the flower bed , and she is one “who must be obeyed”. So at the moment I have to go along with her wishes , sorry
It’s no worries. I’m always taking cuttings, I have a mirabelle plum tree/bush who I trim and I can’t just chuck the trimmings, I always have to pot some up. At the moment there’s 3 different honeysuckle, buddleia, alsorts I took last year needing their own pots. Where they will go I don’t know lol
I love buddleia shrubs too.
I have a dark purple one, a buddleia davidii, which is supposed to be quite compact but it grows taller than my 6 foot high trellis in the Summer. I prune it lightly at the end of the flowering season, then prune it harder in Spring.
I also have a large and stunning white buddleia in the front garden which I did not plant - it must have been a present from the Wind! That one grows very tall and spreads wide, so I keep chopping stems off it when they are shading other plants and cut it back quite ruthlessly every year but it thrives on my harsh treatment.
If you enjoy photographing butterflies, I have noticed that butterflies are strongly attracted to Michaelmas Daisies too - and they are hassle-free perennials which don’t require much attention.
When the buddleia and other Summer flowering plants are finished, the Michaelmas daisies come into flower in late September and provide a good source of food for insects through October and into November until the first frosts arrive.
I have a patch of purple Michaelmas daisies and they are covered in butterflies every Autumn - they are in a spot which catches any late afternoon sun and it’s lovely to see them covered in butterflies - they settle on the flowers for ages, feeding and basking in the Autumn sunshine - Red Admirals seem especially attracted to them.
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The white one sounds lovely. That’s why a lot of councils curse them and kill them, because of their ability to just appear in parks, on walls, everywhere. I’m sure they were originally a Spanish import.
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