Butterfly bush (flowers, landscape, growing, yard)
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I have a good 2 good size butterfly bushes in my yard, one is doing perfectly fine, the other one 's branches seem to be breaking off from the middle of the tree,leaving the long branches coming away from the base. Does anyone know why this is and why to only the one tree? Thank you very much!!!!
I don't know, it's a puzzle. Do you prune them at all?
One thing that someone once told me is that the purple butterfly bush withstands winter better than the white (and in Colorado, this did turn out to be true for me. My white one died after one winter, while the purple one got bigger and bigger and had to be well-pruned.)
I have no idea. I wouldn't worry about it just yet though, since you need to prune it next spring anyway. It might come back. Do you cut them back every spring? It just occurred to me that if you don't, that might be why the one bush is breaking apart.
Buddleia, butterfly bush, is a weak wooded suckering shrub. As the old wood dies new suckers sprout from the trunk. Not an attractive growth habit. So after some years there is a stump of a trunk, lots of dead branches, and a supply of new shoots.
If anyone is interested, here is a good site for the care and growing of the various Butterly Bushes. Butterfly Bushes and Pruning
Thanks for the site nitram, it was quite informative. I have two purple butterfly bushes, one I planted and one just appeared in my yard one day. I get a lot of butterflies and bees attracted to them, they're one of my favorite plants.
I don't know, it's a puzzle. Do you prune them at all?
One thing that someone once told me is that the purple butterfly bush withstands winter better than the white (and in Colorado, this did turn out to be true for me. My white one died after one winter, while the purple one got bigger and bigger and had to be well-pruned.)
My husband did prune aliitle last yr, but he has a habit of "overpruning" I was afraid he"d cut it to the ground.I wasn't aware of the need to prune but I will go on the website given on another post though!Thank you
Buddleia, butterfly bush, is a weak wooded suckering shrub. As the old wood dies new suckers sprout from the trunk. Not an attractive growth habit. So after some years there is a stump of a trunk, lots of dead branches, and a supply of new shoots.
Thank you I had no idea, I love my bushes, I see so MAY butterflies, I hoped it wasn't dying!
If anyone is interested, here is a good site for the care and growing of the various Butterly Bushes. Butterfly Bushes and Pruning
Interesting website for the care and maintenance of Butterfly bush. Personally when I Supervised the landscape for a property management Company, I never fancied Butterfly Bushes in and around the home. They are too big and rangy looking for a garden plant. However, I do like them grown in a plant community on a bank slope or something similiar.
My favourite for attracting butterflies and Hummingbirds was Butterfly Weed. This plant is in the Milkweed family and a native of North America. Extremely easy to grow , especially in the southwest. The key to keeping this plant neat and beautifully flowering (which it can do the entire growing season) is to keep the seed pods trimmed off after the flowers play out on each stem. Otherwise the plants energy goes into the production of Seed, which if left on it's own will mature and the pods split open and release numerous cottony seeds to spread everywhere. Trimming the pods off before this happens forces the plant to produce more flowers. For the average "I Love Gardening" person this won't be a problem. Below the pictures I have some links for helping in the care of Butterfly Weed. There are a number of varieties and colours.
One interesting note on this one. At times we did encounter an Aphid infestation. Interestingly enough, these were a specific Aphid that was bright DarkOrange and the same variety that you would only find on another plant with milky white sap and that was the poisonous Oleander Bush. The Aphid is actually called the Milkweed-Oleander Aphid. Hard to imagine a living thing finding the poisonous juices of these plants tasty, but they prefer it and nothing else.
Interesting website for the care and maintenance of Butterfly bush. Personally when I Supervised the landscape for a property management Company, I never fancied Butterfly Bushes in and around the home. They are too big and rangy looking for a garden plant. However, I do like them grown in a plant community on a bank slope or something similiar.
My favourite for attracting butterflies and Hummingbirds was Butterfly Weed. This plant is in the Milkweed family and a native of North America. Extremely easy to grow , especially in the southwest. The key to keeping this plant neat and beautifully flowering (which it can do the entire growing season) is to keep the seed pods trimmed off after the flowers play out on each stem. Otherwise the plants energy goes into the production of Seed, which if left on it's own will mature and the pods split open and release numerous cottony seeds to spread everywhere. Trimming the pods off before this happens forces the plant to produce more flowers. For the average "I Love Gardening" person this won't be a problem. Below the pictures I have some links for helping in the care of Butterfly Weed. There are a number of varieties and colours.
One interesting note on this one. At times we did encounter an Aphid infestation. Interestingly enough, these were a specific Aphid that was bright DarkOrange and the same variety that you would only find on another plant with milky white sap and that was the poisonous Oleander Bush. The Aphid is actually called the Milkweed-Oleander Aphid. Hard to imagine a living thing finding the poisonous juices of these plants tasty, but they prefer it and nothing else.
what a beautiful plant . I will look into them, and can you get them at like, lowes or does it have to be a nursery?Thanks again!
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