Buddleias for Bees, Butterflies, Beauty
Buddleias have gorgeous flowers, long fluffy cones of tiny blossoms. These blossoms come in very pretty colours, deep and vibrant and pastel; and they have a rich sweet honey-like fragrance. Australian Plants Online has many buddleias suitable for all kinds of garden. Which buddleias are best? That depends on your preference! Let's take a closer look:Why are buddleias brilliant for gardens?
Firstly, buddleias are tough old plants. They don’t mind drier soil. In urban areas you can sometimes see the species forms growing in the most difficult dry locations - out of brick walls, beside railway lines, on rooftops.
They do prefer a bit of lime in the soil – hence they like to grow near brickwork and concrete! See how yours flourishes and add a little dolomite or ground limestone if your buddleia needs a boost. Our Eco Seaweed is an excellent soil booster too, like a vitamin shot for plants.
Second, they can put up with a range of climates. Buddleias can ride out frost and snow, so if you live in the southern states they’ll be happy in your garden. They are fine in full sun or part shade. They're even tolerant of salt spray.
Third, if you forget to trim and clip them,they respond very well to hard pruning. You can cut an old plant down to a very low trunk, almost to the ground, and it will regenerate and sprout out new flowering shoots. Snip off the old dead flowers and chances are the stems will produce a second and even third wave of buds. Check out our Pruning Tips for more advice.
Bees and Butterflies
These scented blossom flowers are absolutely wonderful at attracting wildlife to your garden. The common name for buddleia is “butterfly bush” – and for good reason. Butterflies lap up the nectar in each blossom, and on a warm day you’ll have your very own butterfly garden to enjoy.
Bees and other beneficial insects love the buddleia too. You might even spy a dragonfly taking a well-earned rest. The plants will lure these helpful insects to your garden where they’ll pollinate your vegie garden and eat up the harmful bugs for you, keeping your plants healthier.
You might also find nectar-loving birds and small mammals stopping to drink some of that sweet blossom, to give them a little energy boost during their day.
Different Kinds of Buddleia
Most of the buddleias we sell at Australian Plants Online are B. davidii, which have long fat tapering cones of flowers, and large soft pointed oval leaves. They're deciduous, and frost hardy.
There are other species of Buddleia, and we have one on the site, B. Golden Glow, which has honey-yellow flowers. Golden Glow is a weyeriana buddleia - a cross between the Asiatic B. davidii and the South American B. globosa, which has round golfball flowers in shades of golden orange. This brings new colour possibilities to buddleias. Weyerianas were developed by an British Army major, Major van de Weyer, while home on leave from the First World War. Breeding flowers sounds to us like a peaceful way to escape the horrors of war.
Buddleia Varieties
Our customers loved our original Buddleia Black Knight so much, for its dark flowers and easy going nature. So we added heaps more new Buddleia varieties to keep it company!
Pair Black Knight with Buddleia White Bouquet, an old favourite variety developed in New Orleans – so it’s ideal for the sub-tropical climates of coastal Australia - or White Profusion.They are tall, arching varieties with large flowerspikes, just like Black Knight. The two planted together would make a really interesting Yin-Yang style hedge.
Black Knight also looks amazing paired with vibrant hot colours like pink, orange and maroon, as well as our dark-leaved plants. White Bouquet and White Profusion are perfect for classic all-white gardens, against a background of green, and for mixing with a range of pastel shades too.
The rich shades of warm pink Pink Delight, deep lilac-lavender Joan, and vibrant magenta purple Royal Red work harmoniously together and with mixed herbaceous and shrub borders. Plant them at the back of the bed where they can shoot like rockets to the sky (just remember to clear a path in autumn so you can cut them back for next year!).
Two of our buddleias have soft silver-grey foliage that really shows off the flowers. Lochinch's gentle lilac-lavender blooms blend beautifully in a silver themed garden; and Silver Anniversary's unusual ivory-buff blossoms keep all the focus on those gorgeous grey leaves.
All buddleias are perfect choices for wildlife gardens, cottage gardens, and mixed herbaceous and flowering shrub borders. And because they are deciduous in colder regions in winter, buddleias are an excellent plant for providing cool summer shade in spots where you still want maximum winter sunlight.
