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Buddleia / Buddleja
Common Name: Butterfly Bush
Overview
| Plant Type | Perennial |
| Hardiness Zone | ? |
Cultivars
|
Cultivar |
Height |
Spread |
Blooms |
Sun |
Planted |
Humdinger Magenta Munchkin
| 2-3' | 4' | Summer-Fall | Full Sun | Bee pollination garden |
Miss Violet
| 4-5' | 4-5' | Summer-Fall | Full Sun | Bee pollination garden |
Queen of Hearts
| 2.5-3' | 3.5-4' | Summer-Fall | Full Sun | Bee pollination garden |
Buddleia notes:
- Growth appears on new wood.
- May not leaf out in Spring until after other perennials. It is late to break dormancy.
- Does not provide adult butterflies with nectar, but is a host for butterfly larvae.
Ongoing Management
Fertilization
Add a thin layer of compost in the Spring. Too much fertilizer promotes leaf growth over flower production.
Add 2-4" mulch in Spring.
Watering
Needs well-draining soil.
Pruning / Cutting Back
Deadhead spent flowers so seeds don't spread. Labelled an invasive species in U.S. When deadheading, cut above second set of leaves.
Winter - Do not prune in winter as it could lead to frost damage on new shoots.
Spring - There are two options / lines of thought:
- Prune in early early Spring, cutting back to the ground.
- The book noted below, Pruning Simplified (pgs. 32-33), denotes a different approach for Spring pruning. That book notes that the plant should be pruned back to around 12" above the ground, and only dead or defective growth should be pruned back to the stem or ground.
Propagation
- Hardwood cuttings in Autumn
- Softwood cuttings in Summer
More Information
Books and Papers
- Pruning Simplified: a Visual Guide to 50 Trees and Shrubs, by Steven Bradley.
Web Sites
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eMail comments to me at GardeningBoK @ Gmail.com. |