www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

I wonder if anyone can tell me the best time to prune my buddlias? In my plant book it says March/April, but they are sprouting like mad. Should i prune them sooner?

Thanks
Denise

Hello Denise,

The end of March is usually considered to be the best time to prune buddlia, but this would depend on what are of the country you live in. To an extent you can also govern the time that the pant will flower by adjusting the time of the prune - the later that you perform the pruning operation the later that the plant will flower.

Prune the plant hard back, almost right back to the start of last years growth, and when the shoots begin to develop give the bush plenty of food and water. This should provide you with the maximum blooms.

My neighbour and I have several between us so we take it in turns to cut back some early, some normal and some late...that way we maximise to amount on "Nectar Available" time for the butterflies.

Martin.

Thanks guys,

As I have seven plants in my garden, I think that I will stagger the pruning as Martin suggested for the same effect, but not quite yet.

Cheers
Denise

I hard pruned my four buddleias last week (circa 20 Feb). My experience is that it is impossible to prune too hard. Then towards the end of May, I will prune the tips - well those that are low enough to reach (I think it's called disbudding or debudding). This delays the flowering by about a couple of weeks and seems to coincide better with the Nymphalid season. A downside of the later extra pruning is that the flower spikes are shorter and less attractive but there are more of them.

Jack

Thanks for the tip, Jack. I will try that with a couple of my buddliea this coming summer so they don't all flower at the same time.

What types of buddleia do you grow in the garden?

The best for butterflies seem to be the ordinary pale purple that grows so prolifically on waste ground. But it's not as attractive to my human eye as the richer darker purples or even the pink varieties. I avoid the white as these frankly look unattractive when the blossoms fade to brown.

I have also tried with limited success the later flowering hybrid (orange flowers tinged purple) Buddleia weyeriana which is a cross between the ordinary common buddleia and the globosa (globe shaped orange flowers) but I have never found it that potent an attractant for butterflies.

All are very easy to grow from cuttings.

Jack

jackharr wrote: All are very easy to grow from cuttings.

Jack

Hehe, this I know. I "acquired" a twig of Buddleia Royal Red this morning for potting up. I know it is a bit early in the year but I thought it was worth a try.

Re the different buddleias butterflies find attractive..

Last summer I visited Longstock Nursery near Stockbridge in Hampshire - they hold the National collection of buddleias there and it is a great way to actually see which cultivars the butterflies prefer. On the basis of the butterflies choice I actually bought a Royal Red & the friend with me bought Orpheus. We shall both be looking forward to seeing how attractive they are this summer. I was VERY tempted ( for obvious reasons) to buy a 'Purple Emperor', but it was not in flower. Have any of you got that one? Hopefully I shall see one flowering this year & try it out. The firm favorite with butterflies in my garden is Lochinch, which looks lovely too with soft lilac flowers and glaucous foliage.

Anyway re propogation I stuck in some cuttings a few weeks back when I pruned my buddleias and they are looking alive still. Generally cuttings do strike easily which is good - you just can't have too many buddleias!

Propogating buddleias
A PS When considering the question "When is it the right time to root cuttings?"
the answer is... If a cutting is available its the right time!

July is possibly best time for them to root quickly but I usually find they take ok anytime in a 5" shallow plant pot in a mixture of seed compost & coarse grit. Stand the pots in shade & spray them every few days or daily in summer.

If you grow lots you can experiment with growing them as single stemmed standards like fuchsias or maybe there is scope for butterfly shaped topiary

Buddleias have to be the easiest plant to get cuttings from. I just rip a bit off and stick it in the ground. nine times out of ten it roots.

I found this site which lists lots of different types.

http://www.thelavenderg.co.uk/buddleja.htm

I have the yellow one ( but not the globosa) it flowers right up until late October and it always attracts lots of painted ladies and Red Admirals

One plant that they love my garden is fleabane

That's interesting, Eris, thank you for posting. The Orpheus sounds good.

I have cuttings of Sundance, which is probably the yellow one you mean. I bought a plant from Gardening Express in the spring which cost me a fortune including postage and packaging but it was very poor and died shortly after. Fortunately I was able to take cuttings from elsewhere.

Don't ya just love village fetes, I got some smashing little buddleias today - two are supposed to be Moonlight and two are supposed to be Golden Glow - for 70p each! They are a fair size and in bud, it is just a case of waiting to see if they are true to type.

I bought Silver Anniversary today. I have always thought this one was a bit dull, but when I saw it at the garden centre it was crawling with bees (they didn't seem to be interested in the other buddleias there) so I had to have it!

Hi,
I have bought an Amateur Gardening magazine to-day and inside there is a four page feature on Buddleja, a gentleman Andrew Bullock grows loads of them and there's picture's of different varieties, a beautiful yellow called Golden Glow, a lilac coloured one called B.lindleyana and a few others. He says that he has seen at one time more than 500 butterflies. If the Buddleja is left to grow can go up to 40ft. Its a very interesting feature and with this issue a free packet of seeds Verbena bonariensis. A rather nice garden magazine for only £1.80p. Shirley

Hi Shirley,

Verbena bonariensis is a wonderful butterfly plant. I had my first garden female Common Blue on it today.
I find the Skippers love it too. It's so easy to grow, but beware, it does self seed everywhere.

Denise

Talk about Skippers, I have this field and I was surprised to see the dreaded Ragwort flower in the middle of the field. So I had to go with very thick gloves and black bin liners to get the whole plants to burn them. To my surprise the flowers were covered in Small Skippers. So, I cut the stems to carry some of them home but the little butterflies flew away so the flowers went on the bonfire, extremly deadly plants to animals fresh or dried, not that I have any animals but others famers nearby do and they don't want these flowers seeding. Shirley

Please, please, please, don't tell me you have fallen victim to the Ragwort urban myth!
For a horse to suffer any ill effects from the stuff it has to eat about 5 tons at a single sitting.
Leave it alone - butterflies love it, and it looks pretty good too.
Oooh, I do get cross sometimes!!!
Roger