www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Browsing around a local garden centre today and my eye caught sight of a newly arrived batch of Dwarf Buddleia, now my wife has occasionally prompt me to send for some from her weekly magazine, you get a special offer of three colours for £15, trouble has always seemed to be delivery times, earlier this year they (Thompson & Morgan) quoted mid August owing to demand I suppose, I'm given to understand that they are also likely to be plant plugs, so I decided to wait.

On inspection the plants looked very healthy and were approximately 18" x 18". The variety is Blue Chip, they are supposed to attain a mature size of 2'6" x 2'6" (rather optimistic here perhaps) and will not set seed around the garden (Oh! what a pity) anyway that's what the blurb on the ticket informed me...'it's now or never'...I informed my better half...'or summer will be over before we get one'. So I handed over £10.99 and walked happily to the checkout...'your the third person today'...the checkout lady informed me...'we only had them in today!' Our 'little butterfly bush' is now sited where we think it will do best, both for itself and it's many hoped for visitors

It would prove interesting to know of anyone else's experiences with the 'real dwarf' Buddleia strains, I mention 'real dwarf' because I know there's a lot of skeptism about 'dwarf' in relation to Buddleia...so over to you

Bill

Willrow, I bought two Buddleia's last year and found they were fantastic, You can even raise them from cuttings, I did this. I keep them in pots on the patio rather than planting them in the garden I think this has given them a chance to grow while I can make sure their ok. I live in Lancashire and the winter was bitter cold, April was lovely so I'd to give them plenty of water. No problem so far of course with May or June I've put a pic in to show you how the Butterflies loved them last year
Goldie M

Thank you Goldie M, were they Dwarf Buddleia?

Lovely image by the way!

Bill

Yes, the plants maybe dwarf but the flowers are still the same, at least mine were , thanks for your comments on my pic Goldie

About a month ago I ordered the collection of three dwarf buddleias that were offered to members of Butterfly Conservation in the Autumn issue of Butterfly. Thompson & Morgan have acknowledged my order & promised delivery by the end of March 2012 - which I think is good timing.

I am buying these because I want to try them out to be able to tell other people how valuable they are for butterflies.

I have many "conventional " buddleias so know that these can be quite hard work in the garden. The annual pruning that is necessary generates a lot of waste material to dispose of and when they grow high regular dead heading is quite a job.

Daily Mail special offer

Three dwarf buddleias Buzz for cost of postage £4.90 is a current Daily Mail offer.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/prmts/a ... nues-.html

Well worth a try for that money. I am trying some & will report back how they do.

I suspect they are plug plants but delivery is promised by 31st March