2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Insects and butterflies love to flock to the honey aroma of blooming buddleya, decorating the already beautiful flower stalks. The branches of the shrub bend under the weight of small flowers, collected in a bouquet reminiscent of lilac brushes. But, unlike spring lilacs, buddleya blooms from July to September, for which it is also called "autumn lilac"
Heat-loving shrub
The shrub that loves warmth is still a rare guest of Russian gardens. But indefatigable flower growers bred varieties that are pruned for the winter, and in the spring the plant again quickly gains a height of up to three meters and gives abundant fragrant flowering from July to September.
The shrub got its name from Karl Linnaeus (1707-23-05 - 1778-10-01), a Swedish naturalist who created a unified classification of plants and animals. Karl Linnaeus in this title immortalized the name of Adam Buddley (1662-1715), an English clergyman and botanist. His unpublished manuscript on the flora of England is in the Museum in London.
Growing buddley
Propagated by buddley seeds or cuttings. We choose a place for the shrub that is sunny, protected from the wind and remote from other plantings, since the bush loves space, widely spreading its branches.
We plant the cuttings in the soil warmed by the spring sun in May. The soil should be moist and well-drained to keep the roots from stagnant water and pathogens. We mulch the planting site with compost, straw or peat. In dry weather, water and spray.
Transplanting an adult plant to another place causes stress in the plant. If it is really necessary to transplant a bush, then it is better to do this in the spring, on a cool evening. Dig up a bush with a large clod of earth and water abundantly in a new location.
An important point in caring for a plant is timely pruning of shoots and faded inflorescences. It promotes more abundant flowering and the formation of a bush shape. In the first year, the main shoots are shortened by half. In subsequent years, young shoots are shortened by two buds, and the old ones are trimmed to the growth of young ones. If you save on pruning, the bush stretches out, its branches become bare, the number of inflorescences decreases, and the plant loses its attractiveness and charm.
Buddleya is a thermophilic plant. For the winter, the stems are shortened and insulated as much as possible, or cut at ground level, insulating the roots with mulch. Some gardeners, leaving 10 centimeter shoots, do not wrap them up, but arrange mini greenhouses 20-25 centimeters high above them. For this, arcs are installed, which are covered with a double layer of polyethylene. The film is well fixed at the edges. Top cover the greenhouse with hay or dry leaves.
Plant varieties
There are many types of buddlei, but most of them are thermophilic and do not take root in our climate. In the Moscow region, for example, David's buddley is popular, which is less whimsical and survives the winter cold well.
Buddlea david or buddleya changeable
Among the shrubs of the low mountains of China, along the banks of streams, there is a deciduous shrub up to 3 meters high, preferring calcareous soils. Its thin branches droop to the ground under the weight of large, narrow leaves and profusely flowering inflorescences, reaching a length of 50 centimeters.
The irresistible bloom pleases summer residents, who managed to create favorable conditions for the plant, from July to September, attracting dozens of multi-colored butterflies, bees and bumblebees. Tireless breeders have bred many varieties of this festive shrub, giving it a wide range of colors. Long cone-shaped inflorescences, collected from small flowers, up to 1, 5 centimeters in diameter, can be white, pink, red-crimson, burgundy, lilac or purple, reminiscent of spring lilac brushes in autumn.
Of course, in our climate, the beautiful buddleya does not have time to grow up to three meters, but two-meter bushes with bright spike-shaped brushes spread a delicate aroma far around them. The high growth rate of root shoots quickly restores the winter losses of the plant from frost. Pruning of fading inflorescences stimulates the emergence and flowering of new bright and fragrant panicles, making the bush even more luxuriant and elegant.
Buddleya is good as a separate bush on a green lawn, but it also looks beautiful with low-growing shrubs or herbaceous perennials.
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