The Gardeners Almanac

The place to find out what to do in the garden this week
My Back Garden

Buddlea


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Week Numbers

Coldframe

Compost

Dead heading

Heating

Heel cuttings

Planting out

Pricking out

Pruning

Seed sowing

Soil pH

Overview

Purple variety

Blue flower head

Blue variety

A quick growing hardy deciduous shrub bearing clusters of fragrant lilac / purple flowers from July to around October.

Butterflies are attracted to the flowers, hence the name Butterfly bush.


The flowers grow on the current year’s growth.

Regular deadheading will encourage the formation of more flowers.

Depending upon variety they can grow to a height and spread of around 3 metres (10ft).


Cultivation:

Week 4:

Sow seed in pots/trays of seed compost and germinate at a temperature of 21C (70F)

Germination will take around a month.


Week 8:

Prick out when large enough to handle into 75mm (3") pots of potting compost.

Place in light position, but not direct sunlight for a few weeks until they get properly going.


Week 10:

No regular pruning is required, but with vigorous growers such as b. davidii, all the-previous year's growth can be cut back to within 50-70mm (2"-3") of the old wood.

Pinching out new growth will encourage the plant to become bushier.


Week 12:

Place in cold frame to harden off.


Week 16:

Plant out in full sun, and in soil that has been previously prepared with a liberal amount of manure / compost.

Buddlea is lime tolerant!

Half-hardy species are best grown against a warm, west facing wall.


Week 24:

Take 100-125mm (4"-5") long heel cuttings of half-ripe lateral shoots and insert into equal parts (by volume) peat and river sand and place in a cold frame to root.