Don’t let one bad BUDDLEIA spoil the bunch!
These pretty shrubs aren’t all pests like the ‘bomb-site’ butterfly bush…
IN 1896, a French nursery called Vilmorin-Andrieux & Cie shipped a consignment of unusual seeds to Sir William Turner ThiseltonDyer, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. On opening the package, he discovered that one packet contained seeds of a striking shrub from China that boasted large plumes of purplish flowers.
The plant that was first grown at Kew, and then introduced by nurseries in the early 20th Century, was Buddleia davidii. Commonly known as butterfly bush or summer lilac, it quickly became popular with gardeners thanks to its long-lasting display of summer colour and ability to attract bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
Sadly, this newcomer had a flaw: it was a prodigious self-seeder. First spotted in the wild in 1922, it was dubbed the ‘bomb-site plant’ during the 1940s as it swiftly colonised the post-blitz landscape. Today, it’s still a common sight on wasteland and is
Flowers in dense conical plumes that smell like honey
often seen growing from the damaged brickwork of old buildings.
My advice is to not let the unruly actions of this species put you off buddleias. There are plenty of other ones that are much better behaved and ways to prevent those that do self-seed from making themselves a nuisance. Modern breeding has even led to a compact tribe that are suitable for growing in containers.
A member of the scrophulariaceae plant family, buddleias are native to Asia, Africa and the Americas. The first to arrive on our shores was an evergreen, tender species from the Caribbean with greenish flowers. It was discovered by Scottish botanist William Houston and sent to the Chelsea Physic Garden in the 1730s.
Some 20-odd years later, this trailblazer was named Buddleia americana by Carl Linnaeus, the Swedish botanist who invented the binomial system by which all plants and animals
BEE’S KNEES: Pollinators love feeding on buddleia flowers are named. The first part of its name honoured the Reverend Adam Buddle, a cleric and naturalist from East Anglia, who died in 1715.
Over the years, wild plants have provided breeders with the genetic material to create loads of exciting varieties, and a quick flick through the RHS Plant Finder guide reveals there are close to 350 different ones available in the UK. A few are evergreen, but most are deciduous, ranging in height from 2ft to 20ft. Most buddleias produce tiny flowers that are held in dense, conical plumes, although some exhibit rounded clusters or have stems adorned with loose gatherings of blooms. Often packing a scent that’s reminiscent of honey, flowers come in shades of white, yellow, pink, orange, red and purple.
In the past, large and vigorous forms (such as ‘Black Knight’ and ‘Royal Red’) that can soar to 10ft or so were the go-to varieties. These days there’s a host of smaller ones that are much better suited for smaller gardens. Some even have completely sterile flowers, eliminating any risk of them self-seeding.
Among compact performers to look out for are the ‘Buzz’, ‘Lo & Behold’ and ‘Butterfly Candy’ ranges, which produce flowers on plants that grow to between 2ft and 4ft in height.
Developed in the US and growing to about 2ft, the ‘Flutterby Petite’ series of plants have flowers that are sterile or possess low fertility.
Buddleias are happy with their feet in fertile, well-drained soil, and will produce most flowers in full sun. Use taller varieties as standalone specimens or to add structure to the back of borders. Compact forms are ideal at the front of displays or raised in 12in pots of soil-based compost.
In terms of maintaining buddleias, trim twice a year. In midautumn, remove the tips of stems that carry spent flowers to prevent self-seeding and to stop lanky plants being damaged by wind. Give them a second cut in early spring, pruning back hard all shoots to leave two buds above the darker, older growth.