earlier in a post I can't find, I mentioned a buddleia Sungold growing up the side of my house; still in bloom then (September) Still in bloom now, November.
Imagine my surprise when building the steps down to that section to discover I had NEVER PLANTED IT!!!!!!! tired of my forgetful ways, it helpfully planted itself.
Here is the full plant
and here is the evidence of plant impatience well, maybe just realism.
In spite of its lamentable habit of holding on to its dead flowers, like all buddleias, it really is very pretty. Here is a closeup of a cluster.
That's incredible. Pull that pot off and take another picture, I have to see what's going on under it. Please - save seeds from that tough Buddleia for me.
Positively lemony! Oh, to live in zone 8b, sigh...
True Brenda, it does look tough.
Honestly you guys PULL the pot off???? You have no idea -- this plant has kind of blanket stitched itself through the pot to the ground.
I will cut it off, (major surgery) and take pics then. Quite a hoot,hey?
I will for sure save seeds --- lots of people grow buddliea davidii as a perennial in colder areas, since it blooms on new wood, its fine to let it get cut back to the ground. I'm sure you could try something similar with sungold (which is b. x weyeriana btw -- a cross between the less hardy globosa and davidii)
Better than seeds, I don't see why I couldnt try to root some cuttings for you and then mail them a la Richters in little pots wrapped in bags wrapped in cardboard -- boxed.
Kind of the Russian doll effect; but if you like, I wouldnt mind giving it a shot in spring.
M
Oh my!
Your garden must be so inviting it couldn't help its self.
LOL
Ann
thats a kindly spin to put on things, Ann.
Kind of like saying you made the world seem so inviting to your children they just HAD to run away!!!! LOL
Myself, I kind of think of it getting all huffy and saying "well ok, if YOU aren't going to plant me, I;ll just have to do it myself. Hmm, this seems like a good place....."
The seeds would be fine for me, although your offer is very generous. I thought the secret was out - echoes is addicted to seed starting. It's going to be a stretch any how I try it to get something from your zone to stay in mine. I have some violet Buddleia seedlings that I'm hoping to winter over this year. Must not forget to pile the straw on.(mental note).
Thanks and I will keep an eye open for the b. x weyeriana.
HAH. another seed addict I belong to the Alpine Garden Society and just got the seed exchange list for the year. You get 30 packets of free seeds just for being a member and 60 if you send seed in.
It isn't all alpines either, last year I got vitex agnus castus seed, for example. Anyway, I always order WAY more than I can grow on.
Have you ever tried rhodos from seed. It is very easy -- they come up like cress -- the trick is keeping them moving along I did it for awhile, awash in baby rhododendrons.
No -one wanted to know me, it was a sad time.
:>)
I don't have any trouble getting rid of most of my seedlings.....eventually. Rhodos, ya sure, now your just taunting me.
No, I assure you it is not so. There is an amazing guy breeding rhodos to survive in Finland. helvikki et al.. and another v famous breeder (who names his rhodos such precious things, I have blocked his own name) (you know, pinky panky widdle waddle) anyhow, the plants, despite this are awfully good and hardy to god knows what.
Besides, you shouldn't look at it as taunting, as much as encouraging the development of neighbours!
:
It's not so much the zone pushing as the soil. They need too much fussing in Red River Gumbo as well as a lot of winter protection and holding your tongue just right all winter. I like a challenge but not something that is that much trouble. I once tried one of those northern azaleas. It hung on for a year or two, but I never saw a bloom and it just faded away one winter.
This message was edited Nov 10, 2005 11:49 PM
AAAAGH
I know what you mean. I gardened in Chilliwack, where the water table is above ground level. (not kidding, the place was diked and drained to past an inch of its life -- a lake was drained, sturgeon dug up by farmers years later, but DON'T get me started) anyhow, the soil is VERY fertile, river delta, great for roses.
But I couldn't grow iris, or primulas or pinks AT ALL. People were full of advice, but at the end of the day, I just decided to grow what I could grow well.
Anyhow, you will grow FABULOUS peonies, and you will post pictures that make my heart burn with envy!!!
Its always something!
Marian
That's one tough, self-sufficient buddleia Marian! You can almost picture it - kinda like a man lost in the desert dying of thirst muttering "Water....must find water...", only it would be saying "Grow..... must.... push hard.... grow..... need.... arghhh...... soil..... can't... umph.... there.... ahhhhhhh" :-) --Ginny
Marian......I have a "Sungold" at the entrance to my garden,......it shot up to, easily 10' in the summer, pruned him just before I left for the UK, and now it is still covered in blooms, and the shrub, itself, is at least 6' high! E
I think its a great shrub too, Elaine. Given time I might even have planted it!!!! Actually, I thought I had, mostly because of the SIZE of the dang thing -- hard to tell from the pic, but this one is at least 10'. I want to keep the main stem(s) fairly high and unfoliated, since you have to walk under it to go down the stairs.
Ginny, love your sound effects!!!!! Sounds like labour to me!!!! It taps against the window in a friendly fashion when the wind blows, now I realize it may well have been, like the cats, asking to come in!
Wow, what a tough cookie! It sure wants to show off for you. So you are saying it is easy to start from seeds? I'll have to pinch a few from Brenda when she gets some.
:) Donna
Actually, no, I was saying it is remarkably easy from CUTTINGS, hence my offer. To be honest, it is one plant I have never tried from seed; though to judge by the ease with which buddleia davidii has naturalized everywhere, I imagine it would be fairly easy.
If it ever stops raining, I'll go check the plant. Sometimes hybrids don't set much fertile seed, but its always worth a go. I'll let you two know how much seed I get, happy to send enough for both if there is lots.
or even some. :>)
M
Ooooooh!
;) Donna
I've always found these VERY easy to start from cuttings, I have them in white, pink, and 3 shades of purple, (one dark with variegated leaves, )and would be happy to trade in the spring for...
My neighbour now has 3 little plants of varying colours of this, all started by me this spring. Never tried them from seed, though.
Me too, C. Like hydrangeas, they have a serious will to grow.
I have the variegated one; but no pink or bluish purple. Would you be interested in trading cuttings of Sungold for either of these??? I have had Dark Knight (I think thats its name) and loved it. Wonderful scent, wonderful colour.
M
M, I have Sungold, and find that it is by far the fastest grower of all the colours, with white a close second.
I would be happy to trade something else for the other colours, though! Daylilies? Irises? cuttings from whatever?
Well, you know about me and my iris already!!! So there are certainly those. I have a double daylily inherited with the garden. Not my fave, but if you like it (my what an enthusiastic offering) you are welcome to it ALL. I shouldn't be like that, I do like some daylilies. I just have a grudge against this gardens original owner. Mea culpa.
I also have omphalodes Parisian Skies babies (v pretty) and in the spring a lot of centranthus ruber; about which I cannot rave sufficiently. By the end of spring I should have a lot of repeat blooming iris to share.
So.....anything there strike your fancy????
M
