buddleia

Hello everyone and thank you for welcoming me to your wonderfully informative website.
I am relatively new to the world of gardening and need some advice with regards to the buddleja in my new garden.
It has been awash with butterflies all summer, but the flowers are now dying out. If i remove the
dead flower heads will it produce a second crop and entice the butterflies back.

 

milesaway, not really I live in Essex :D :D :D

I had thought this possible but on researching I have found this out...

This elegant deciduous shrub bears its scented flowers on stems produced the previous year. So to ensure good flowering next year you need to prune immediately after flowering is over, which can be anytime from late June to the beginning of August. Remove any dead or damaged growth and shorten lop-sided or over-long shoots to balance the overall shape of the shrub. Old and neglected shrubs can be rejuvenated by cutting out one-in-three stems, starting with the oldest. Either cut them back to a sideshoot lower down or remove them completely. You will loose some flowering shoots for next year but the shrub will be the better for it in subsequent years. Alternatively, cut back two-thirds of the oldest stems immediately after flowering.

Hope this helps

BM :D

P.S what part of chelmsford are you in ?

 

The normal time for pruning any of the buddleja which flower from now till frost is in February/march rather than after flowering. They produce their flowers on new wood produced in the spring. We have always dead headed ours for a second smaller crop and to stop them seeding all over the place.
If your budleja has orange ball shaped flowers rather than long panicles then, Banaman is correct in his research.

 

Thanks Palustris, Im sure i've had seconds before, but I couldn't find mention of it so far on searching the internet. :D

 

Yes, I do this Palustris.

 

This is the problem which occurs when the full name of a plant is not given. There are about a 100 different Buddleja ranging from trees to small shrubs and from tropical tender to fully hardy. So which one are we talking about at any given time?

 

I never knew there were so many!

 

I grow B. davidii hybrids (the one most people mean when they talk about Buddleja) B. globosa, B. globosa x davidii, B. alternifolia and there is one grown nearby called B lindleyii which I would love to manage to keep alive. It has the most gorgeous long grey/white furry leaves and the purple ish flowers are not so bad either!

 

I have a buddleja with the long purple flower heads and it only just started to flower now, early August! Could be because we are in Scotland and it is generally cooler?
Because of its position I want this one to grow as high as possible as fast as possible (to cover and unsightly structure from my neighbour's view as much as possible) - any tricks?

 

Thats about right, I have one just finishing flowering and one just starting. I prune mine in April so that there is protection from frost. I have three, the larges must be about 15 foot now and has grown very fast, so just hang in there and wathc it go!

 

Wow! So many responses. I'm not sure who to reply to first so this is a general reply. Being new to the world of gardening i haven't the faintest idea what the full name of this buddleja is. i thought they only came in lilac, pink, white, dark purple & orange. The flowers on my specimen are a very pale lilac with a dark orange centre, if that helps. I think i shall prune them now in the hope of a second crop as it seemed to work for shiney. And It's all a learning curve after all.
Bananaman: i live in springfield, just off the green.
Thanks very much to all.
any tips with regards to sennetti or red hot pokers would also be most welcome. thanks again

 

Hi milesaway thats just up the road from me :D

 

Hello banana man. I,ve seen alot of red hot pokers in essex & suffolk & all seem to be flowering well.....except mine (i have red, yellow & orange). According to the previous owners they were planted in march in a bed of multi purpose compost and have not really done alot. do you think they need this season to settle in ?

 

I bow down to others experiences of RHpokers. I have only grown late flowering varieties in large tubs. I know they have a problem with heavy soil and seem to need a lighter soil to establish well. Although if it is just a compost bed they will need more substance than that. See what others think. Good to have you on GC.

BM