I really love my butterfly bushes. Here is my first one Black Knight. It gets all day sun.
Butterfly Bushes
I am trying to make my black knight look more like a tree.
Welcome visitor!
Interesting idea to try to make it look more like a tree.
Yours looks very robust--do you have to cut it back in later winter or can you let yours grow on from year to year?
Ours grow from the ground up each spring and mine are yet to bloom in a big way...
Mid winter I cut it back to aprox. 2 feet high. Then in the spring I do not allow any braches to grow below 1 1/2 ft. I rub off all new growth .
My 2 year old Pink Delight. I love the fragrance but I thought the flowers would be a deeper pink. It still is very nice. The flowers last a lot longer than my black knight's.
This message was edited Jul 1, 2007 1:47 PM
This is a butterfly bush I planted last year. dwarf blue? I am confused because it is in full sun all day and it is just now starting to bloom. Maybe it is a mid summer bloomer or maybe it is because it is its first year.
This one is royal red I love the color (not red). This will go in my front yard in full sun. I will try to train this one as a tree like my black knight.
I have a Black Knight Butterfly Bush like yours and it is planted in the corner of the yard just like yours. As a matter of fact, it looks just like mine except for an orange tree in there somewhere...LOL. My Butterfly Bush grows about fourteen feet high now (fourth growing season).
Thanks for sharing,
Chuck
WOW! I doubt mine will get that high with my winters. Do you have to deadhead your black knight to keep it blooming?
http://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/page19.html
Long ago I lost the labels but I think I have 'Black Knight' and 'Attraction' and another one with silver foliage. None seem to grow as beautifully as the catalog specimens, but I guess the BFs like them.
Do your BFs have a favorite? I read somewhere that the purples were much favored over the whites and yellows. But I wonder if that's so?
The 'Potter's Purple' in the Plant Delights catalog link says it's consistently ranked in the top 60 in the Dirr trial gardens at UGa. I wonder if that is for butterfly attractiveness, or just general horticultural reasons. Anyway, the write-up says the bush has extra big panacles and I guess the BF's would love those!
it's hard to believe that buddleia are considered invasive by many people. They are so well loved...
Here's a link to a Garden Gate Magazine article on step by step instructions to train a Fountain Butterfly Bush into a standard...
http://www.gardengatemagazine.com/extras/46buddlejastandard.php
Maybe this same technique would apply to your Buddleja davidii. Multi-stemmed form may surely work here.
Deborah
Dr Dirr gave me (there was a group of us who received one) one of his butterfly bushes from the UGA trail gardens. It has extra long blooms that are just beginning to fill out. I would really like to find a Buddleja alternifolia to train into a single stemmed tree. The upper stems flow downwards just as it's common name says.
Deborah
None of my butterfly bushes have a lot of butterflies yet. Just a few visitors a day. I love the way they smell and look the butterflies are an added bonus. Along with my butterfly bushes I am planting other flowers butterflies love. Also plants the caterpilers love. I just started last year.
Soon you'll have a butterfly paradise. Planting host and nectar plants will surely draw them to your yard. Why would they want to go any where else? I trying my best to do the same.
Post pictures when you can and let us see what butterflies visit you.
How cool that you got to meet the famous Dr. Dirr! And get one of his BBs!
The article on how to train a buddleia into a standard looks interesting. I'm thinking maybe we should find a DGer with a weeping bud and ask to take cuttings--we could probably get a might fine bush before too long!
I looked up the weeping buddleia and found one listed for Lazy S's nursery http://www.lazyssfarm.com/Plants/Shrubs/A-Ch%20Shrubs/shrubs_trees_A-B.htm
along with loads of regular buddleias and some 'petite' ones from a breeder in England.
I would love to have 2 of the weeping buds trained into standards in pots by the front door!
That would gorgeous, T, as a vocal point at an entrance. Glad you found a resource for the fountain BB. Although it would be nice to have a cutting too.
Yea, Dr. Dirr is a mess in a half! Kept me in stitches. LOL
Hey Ctindell. You and I are in the same boat. I just started this project this year also. Have received great tips from this forum though (thanks everyone). I have three butterfly bushes now and three butterfly weed plants. Other misc. plants too. These are all in my backyard. And where do I see a butterfly now and again, in the front yard. Go figure. lol.
Leslie
Hey Deb, here's what my BB looks like from Dr. Dirr. Does your look like this one? Did you get the name of it??????
Donna
This message was edited Jul 3, 2007 12:06 AM
No, Donna, only a data log number on my container. I think yours is darker and prettier. Don't you just love the way Ctindell is training hers into a tree!
Oh yea, thats another project for me!! lol!!
We got about 1' of rain tonight! A good hard rain, just what we needed!
Donna
One Foot!!! Wow what a down pour! LOL It's just sprinkling here. :(
sorry only an inch! lol!!
First time I've seen a butterfly like this in my yard.
He makes a wonderful color combination to your Butterfly Bush too! Looks like an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. You'll see more of him and his friends I'm sure. Keep watching.
This is one of my two BFB...I do love them and will be attempting to root some shoots this month...supposed to be pretty easy to do...wish me luck.
Everyone's photos are beautiful...enjoy today!
Jan
WOWZERS has your BB filled out fast! What is your secret to growing such a big bloom-filled plant?
If you mean me, Deborah?
Not a gosh darn thing....It's about 8 or 9 years old this summer and I've never even fertilized it. The only thing I can think of is that I didn't prune it at all this year.
Here is my other one and I did prune it back quite hard this year...it's the same age as the other.
Tangiegirl, you must have good dirt then. LOL Mine didn't leaf out as thick as yours. I was thinking maybe that was the way it was supposed to do. Your's is great!
LOL...yes, I wish I could take the credit. I have the people who've farmed "my" land since the early 1700's to thank, I guess. This is our tenth summer here and this spring we stripped most of the overgrown beds (except for the bones) so now I am replanting and must wait for them to fill in.
We do mulch with bales and bales of straw every year, never removing the old. And all of my garden scraps and most of my kitchen scraps go directly into the gardens. I've never had luck with compost bins or piles so this is my lazy way of composting.
tangiegirl - Yours are gorgeous! Wow! I wished mine looked like that! Did it take that many years of being established in that area to get that big? Or were they always that big? Mine are only 2-3 years old. Still small and I do prune the branches.
Hi Becky. I see you are a Florida girl. How are things down in my home state?
They've been this way since about the third year. The darker one in the second picture gets full sun and the lighter one in the first pic gets shade from a large tree from about 2 o'clock on.
tangiegirl - Where are you from in Florida? I've lived most all my life from the age of 8 to current. I love Florida!
That's good information about the bushes. I had a feeling that they probably take a few years to get their roots nice and established and then they take off above ground. 1st year - sleep, 2nd year - creep, and 3rd year - Leap!
Thanks for the info, that's very helpful! :-) And welcome to this forum!
Thanks for the welcome becky, I did just kinda barge in here, didn't I? LOL
Born in Pompano Beach, then lived 38 years in Fort Lauderdale. moved up here to be close to H's elderly parents. I'll be back home one day....my heart is still there, even after ten plus years.