Butterfly Bush

Hi

Im looking to have one of these in my front garden, a house near me has one and its a very pretty site in the summer.

I need to know when is the best time to buy and plant these? I imagine I can buy one from my local nursery but I dont know If I need to keep it indoors until a specific month or not.

Are these fast growing? I understand they withstand cold weather well and need pruning Nov-Feb time.

Thanks

 

Buddleia (butterfly bush) are almost impossible to kill, and I mean impossible! They also self seeds very freely, hence why you see them growing everywhere on waste land, railway banks, even out of chimneys.

I planted one last week, but it's mild in the south - your profile doesn't say where you are located. Garden Centres have them in pots outside now, as I can testify to and they're surviving. Perhaps buy one now and wait until it warms up a bit before planting it out. It can sit in it's pot out of the wind until then. But I planted one two years ago at this time of year and it did fine.

 

Hello Slimzee. I take it the butterfly bush you are referring to is Buddlea. It's very good at attracting butterflies.
Buddlea is very hardy and has no problem getting through the winter, and you're right to think they do better if pruned down every year. They ae quite fast growing and will get up to a good height every year.
You'll have no problem buying one in a garden centre, they're very common.
I would wait and buy one later in the spring when the ground is suitable for planting.
Keep it in it's pot for a little while and make sure it's hardened off before planting - sometimes garden centres keep things under cover and they are quite soft.
Buddleas are good at seeding themselves so look out for baby plants around your bush in the spring after flowering.

 

Instead of paying for one, why not walk along a public footpath, or even ask somebody who has one, for a snip of it? I will GLADLY give one to anybody that wants one, because after all, I have them in the garden and along a path I use regularly where some are cut back annually.

 

Will this grow to about 8 feet? I'd love for it to grow upwards and turn into a large bush on the floor.

Hmm ill wait till temps go up so a few weeks then ill go buy one. I got some compost in the garage still so ill mix that up with current soil dig a hold and in it goes.

 

Yes, it will grow and grow. That's the other thing with Buddleias, they need to be cut down in early Spring. You can be quite brutal with them and they bounce back happy as ever.

 

If you'd like to see a photo or two of some, let me know, because I just happen to have some and can get them on to here.

 

Good luck with it slimzee!

I love Buddleias :thumb:

 

We have three of them but they never seem to do anywhere near as well as I've seen them do elsewhere. Could be because they are in the half-shade, but also perhaps we've never cut them back enough.

"Cut back quite brutally", how much does that mean, Sussexgardener? Like, how much above the ground?

 

I have one in semi shade (sun in the morning) that does fine. I cut it back in autumn, just to tidy it up and prevent it looking straggly (it's in the chicken run so it would get in the way otherwise). Not a hard cut back, just a tidy up. Then in spring, usually March I cut it back hard, down to within a 1.5 foot of the ground.

A neighbour has a huge Buddleia in her garden that grows into a monster every summer and they cut theirs down to a decent framework, about 3 foot high about this time of year. At the moment it looks like a bare skeleton but can guarantee it will bounce back as profuse as ever.

 

Thanks, Sussexgardener, as soon as this eternal snow goes, I'll cut ours back that much too.