Buddleia Progress Report. 6.29.14

Buddleia "Blueberry Cobbler".  6.29.14

Buddleia "Miss Molly".  6.29.14

Buddleia "Miss Ruby".  6.29.14

The sterile buddleias are starting to bloom.

As described in earlier posts, sterile buddleias are complex  hybrids between Buddleia davidii and other species.  They have the advantage of being sterle, so do not produce seeds.  For that reason, the sterile hybrids are legal in  this SPring Oregon and Washington.  I did see some Buddleia davidii at Lowes, and walked past it a few times, beautiful dark purple.  But as an environmentally oriented gardener, I couldn't bring myself to buy it.  The B. davidii are highly invasive.  The sterile hybrids do not set seed, so are not invasive.  Despite being sterile, some varieties are highly vigorous, while others are much more restrained.

In their 2nd year, the varieties "Peach Cobbler" and "Blueberry Cobbler" are 7 feet tall, and equally wide.  Also in their 2nd year, "Miss Ruby" is about 4 feet tall, and "Miss Molly" is about 3 feet tall.  The most compact is "Blue Chip", which is about 18 inches tall.

Bloom order:  "Miss Molly" was first, mid June.  "Miss Ruby" was 2nd, late June.  "Blueberry Cobbler" followed close behind, late June.  "Peach Cobbler" is about to bloom, probably 1st week of July.  "Blue Chip" does not have buds yet.  Not a fair comparison, because I let that bed go wild while I was recuperating from surgery, and only this spring pulled out the competing weeds.  It has made a resurgence of growth, but had a late start.

These buddleias are the fastest of all my shrubs to grow and establish.  They are one of the few that deer and rabbits don't touch.  They don't seem to be affected by any insects.  Bumblebees forage the flowers.  I'm not sure about honeybees - so far, there is minimal if any honeybee activity.   The more compact varieties look ideal for smaller gardens, and the more vigorous varieties look ideal for privacy hedge.

Sterile Buddleia. Progress Report. 6.15.14

Sterile buddleia "Peach Cobbler".  6.15.14

Sterile buddleias at 17 months after planting.  They grow rapidly.  Nice fat flower buds forming now.  Probably open in about 2 weeks.  These were about 1 foot tall, if that, when I planted them.  I can see why nonsterile buddleias are considered invasive.

There were some dark blue - nonsterile -  varieties at Lowes.  Unfortunately, I don't think those are legal to plant here.  I want to be a responsible  gardener.  So I will stay with the sterile ones.

This is a bit of a windbreak  The photo faces west.  There is a near-constant wind from the west.  This buddleia hedge should give the little orchard a break from some of the wind.

Edit:  2/4/2020  I am trying to remove these buddleias now.  They are way too vigorous, messy and, frankly, ugly.  The flowers remain on the plant after they dry out and become brown.  It's difficult to catch them at the flower catalog "perfect" stage. At that moment they are nice.  I cut some of these down to about 1 foot tall last year, and they grew at least 12 feet in one year.  That is much more than the nursery claims.



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Buddleias after the freeze

Buddleia globosa

Buddleia hybrids, Peach Cobbler and Blueberry Cobbler

Buddleias are partially hardy. I've read in cold winter climates, the tops are killed.  They grow back rapidly from the roots, so act as perennials.

Here they are usually a large woody shrub. 

I wondered with the big freeze, whether they would die to the ground.

Most of the large summer leaves were frost damaged.  Many were shed.  The smaller, axillary bud leaves still look OK.

I don't know if the complex hybrids have been tested in such a cold winter.  It will be interesting to see what they do.

Similar for Buddleia globosa.

Buddleia review

Buddleia "Miss Ruby"

Buddleia "Peach Cobbler"

Buddleia "Peach cobbler"

 I might have a love/hate thing going with Buddleia.  This winter/spring I bought and planted several. It took some effort to find the "legal", "horticulturally politically correct" varieties.  By that I mean, legal to buy and grow, noninvasive, non-see bearing intergeneric hybrids.  These are patented so can't be grown from cuttings.

My goal was to have a fast growing shrub with nectar bearing flowers for insects and hummingbirds.  Especially honeybees.

Online photos of buddleia flowers are usually cropped or pruned to show the pretty, but not the ugly.  There is a lot of pretty but also a lot of ugly.

As the flowers fade, they turn brown.  They brown from the start to the end, over what seems to be a few weeks.  That leaves a choice:  Deadhead, which removes a lot of 'fresh' flower too, or leave the flower on the plant until it's totally brown, which is not attractive.

These photos show the "pretty", except for the bottom photo that shows the "ugly" too.

I will deadhead them.  There should be lots of new flowers following deadheading.

In my garden, the "Cobbler" type buddleias ("Peach Cobbler" and "Blueberry Cobbler") seem to grow much faster and look more weedy, compared to the "Miss" type buddleias (Miss Molly and Miss Ruby).  The flowers on the "Miss" buddleias are more compact and richer in color.

Buddleia "Blueberry Cobbler"

Bumblebees often visit the buddleias.  I haven't seen honeybees on them at all.

Buddleia "Peach Cobbler"

Hummingbirds also visit them.

Insect photos

Borage with honeybees.

Borage with honeybee.

 The good thing about fatigue is I can sit for a long time with the camera and catch some fleeting insects.  So here we are. 

I don't know the wasps that took over the oregano flowers.  They are a small wasp.  I think they are wasps.

Buddleia X  "Peach cobbler" with bumblebee.

Oregano flowers with wasps?

Another Buddleia  X "Peach Cobbler" with bumblebee.

Apiary garden. Shrubs for pollen and nectar.

Sterile buddleia hybrid "Miss Molly"

 I decided not to add more shrubs.  Then I needed something for my mood.  These are chosen as potential sources of nectar and pollen for honeybees and native pollinators.

The sterile buddleia hybrids are noninvasive and are available in nurseries in Portland OR and in Vancouver WA.  They replace the now illegal-Buddleia davidii varieties, which are invasive and rangy.

"Miss Molly" was bought in bloom.  I had it on my deck for a week.  The current flowers are about spent, so I planted it.  This, and the others, should bloom most of the summer and fall.  If we can believe the nursery ads.

"Miss Ruby" is the pollen parent of "Miss Molly".  Both are complex hybrids of multiple species of buddleia.  This plant was not in bud yet when I planted it last month, and is just beginning to bloom.

"Peach Cobbler" and "Blueberry Cobbler" are also sterile complex hybrids.  These plants look the same.  They were hold-overs from last year at the nursery.  I bought and planted them midwinter.  They have more than doubled in size.   Vigorous.  No flower buds yet.

Ceanothus thyrsiflorus "Victoria".  Not many honeybees on this.  The Ceanothus on the neighboring property was filled with honeybee activity, but now there aren't many.  More bumblebees and native bees.

Weigela florida "Lemon Ice"  A pale yellow weigela.  Impulse buy.  That, along with the ceanothus and Feijoa, were the result of my feeling ill.   Better now.  Fortunately there was room for all of these in the apiary yard and orchard.

Sterile buddleia hybrid "Miss Ruby"

Sterile bulldeia  hybrid "Peach Cobbler"

Ceanothus

Weigela "Lemon Ice"