How to grow buddlejas / RHS Gardening (2024)

FAQs

How to grow buddlejas / RHS Gardening? ›

Butterfly bush prefers a warm and sunny location in the garden – by the way, the shrub is extremely heat tolerant. The soil should ideally be moderately dry, well-drained and humus-rich. On sites with fewer nutrients, you can enrich the excavated soil with compost or alternatively add an appropriate substrate.

Butterfly bush prefers a warm and sunny location in the garden – by the way, the shrub is extremely heat tolerant. The soil should ideally be moderately dry, well-drained and humus-rich. On sites with fewer nutrients, you can enrich the excavated soil with compost or alternatively add an appropriate substrate.

For more free-draining soils, add some well-rotted manure to the planting hole to enrich the soil and help to retain nutrients. The more compact forms of Buddleia can be planted in a large container, using peat-free shrub compost.

Pruning and Deadheading

Deadheading your plants means snipping off any browning flower clusters to encourage more flowering though the bloom season. Butterfly bushes bloom best on younger, vigorous growth and later in the season.

Annual pruning keeps it in shape and helps produce more flowers, lower down. Prune Buddleja davidii in early spring when new growth starts appearing and the risk of a hard frost has passed. Young shrubs should be pruned to create a short, strong framework of branches that are about 45cm high.

Although they can grow with minimal nutrients, they need additional feeding to produce the best flowers. A general purpose high potash (potassium) feed is best – the additional potash helps with flower development and wood maturation.

Butterfly bushes are full sun plants. That means they should get at least six hours of bright sun each day. It doesn't need to come all at once – it can be in chunks throughout the day. In very hot climates, a bit of afternoon shade is permissible.

Grow buddleia in moist but well-drained soil in full sun. Deadhead flowers to encourage more to form and cut back hard in late spring to prevent the shrub from becoming too big.

Varieties of Buddleja davidii can become very tatty if not properly pruned. If you leave buddleja unpruned, the only thing you see at eye level is a twiggy tangle of bare stems, with the blooms held at the tips of the stems, way above head height. They will also grow very large.

How do I stop my buddleia from getting leggy? ›

Now, the main thing when pruning buddleias is to cut two-thirds off, because if you don't, they only flower on new growth and you're gonna end up with a daggy, leggy-looking plant. And when you prune, always prune just above a node. You can see that's where the leaves are coming out.

Answer and Explanation: The fibrous root system of the butterfly bush is rather shallow, taking advantage of the available water and nutrients close to the topsoil.

Buddlejas will grow in almost any location – they're often seen growing out of brickwork and will happily colonise wasteland – in fact they're classed as invasive plants. However, to get the best out them as garden plants, choose a sunny spot, to encourage nectar-rich flowers and attract butterflies.

Butterfly bushes are full sun plants. That means they should get at least six hours of bright sun each day. It doesn't need to come all at once – it can be in chunks throughout the day. In very hot climates, a bit of afternoon shade is permissible.

Planting: Plant in early spring or fall. If planting in midsummer in hot climates, be sure to provide plenty of water and even some afternoon shade.

The first Monarch butterflies in my garden were observed Sunday, Aug. 17, on one of our butterfly bushes (Buddleia). There is no plant more attractive to butterflies than the butterfly bush. Best colors are blue, purple or similar colors.