Friday, July 27, 2012

Butterfly Bush

The front garden has (basically) three beds - the main one, the dry creek bed, and the "filled with rocks" bed. For the first year, there was nothing in the latter (other than rocks, which I inherited with the house) because there was no way to get water to it. After finally fixing the third sprinkler valve, I picked out two Buddleja davidii 'Black Knight', which are surprisingly drought and heat-tolerant.
These haven't  been pruned to the ground since they were planted. I'm still trying to decided if I should?
These plants taught me an important lesson - plants have to suit the site! See how one (in the background) is much bigger than the other, even though they were planted at the same time?
They were the same size when I bought them!
That's because the smaller one (foreground) spent about a year in a different spot - right next to the front door. Which only gets full-sun for about 2 hours in the morning, before the column and roof line put it in full shade. It was NOT happy there, so I moved it its current spot. In less than a year, it about doubled in size (and started blooming). But obviously the other one is still bigger...

The smaller plant - that's now hiding the sprinkler valves and hose reel. Full sun = good
Their dark purple flowers have the best scent, and look great against the white of the house and garage

This means, of course, I can't even change the paint scheme of my house! :)
  Last year, something was eating the leaves (turning them into lace almost!) but it doesn't seem to be impacting them this year. They started blooming in early June, and if I remember to dead-head them, will keep going! There is a new one in the back garden - if it blooms this year, I'll be interested to see if it's the same one or a different color...

4 comments:

  1. I love butterfly bushes! They grow wild here, and in fact, are almost considered a banned invasive. Yours has a really pretty dark purple bloom, mostly I see the light purple at the side of the road. I sometimes plant more than one of something to see where it grows best, and then move them all to that one spot where they are thriving.

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    1. Isn't it funny how plants grow so differently in different places? I can't imagine butterfly bushes being invasive here, but I do know they can't be shipped to Oregeon and other places... Thanks for commenting!

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  2. Hi Renee, I can't find your email address so please forgive my commenting here with something not related to this post. You commented on my Opuntia "give-away" about Optunia macrocentra...well Alison (who co-coincidentally commented above) won the official give-away but I'd still love to exchange Opuntia with you if you're interested. My email is spiky plants at gmail dot com (with all the appropriate changes of course), let me know!

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    1. Hello! I just say your note - I will send an email soon! I'm definitely still interested! (and note to self... make a contact page!)

      Thanks for commenting!

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