Is it better to transplant Buddleia in late fall or Spring? I think mine are planted in a spot that is too wet for them.
I have had good luck transplanting in early spring. Be prepared for a lot of digging if the plant has established it self as they have a vigorous root system. I also cut mine back pretty hard in the spring.
Thanks so much - Last season I cut back at the start of winter. But I think that along with the soggy ground this may have been factor in their lack luster showing this year. Do you do any pruning to manage height? In early summer. I tried that this year and am glad they are not so tall but wonder if others do it. These plants are not very old - I think the oldest would be 5-6 years - and the newest went in last year.
Mine looked great last year but kind of sparse this year. I have pruned them back after the first blooms start to die back resulting in lots more flowers. I have mine in a very dry area of the yard in full sun. They seem to like the poor dry soil much better. One year I lost all of them to the cold temps and now I mulch pretty heavily in the fall when they go dormant. I then dig back the mulch in the spring before they break dormancy. I don't worry about the height of the bushes as they have plenty of room where I have them but I have seen them pruned low and they looked great.
Thanks, We seem to have had so many less butterflies this year. I will keep my hopes up for next year.
I am having a great year with the butterflies this year. I started a hummingbird/butterfly garden about 6 years ago and keep adding plants to it as I go. I have a lot of milkweed and this year I planted red swallow-wort. The monarchs loved it. I counted over 20 worms on the swallow-wort alone. I am not great at identifying butterflies and moths yet but I have seen a huge variety from spring until now. I found a monarch cocoon on my archway a few days ago. I wonder if something is causing the decline in butterflies where you are.
Things are a bit out of kilter this year because it has been so wet, more than 3 inches above average rainfall this year so far, and I suspect the devastating die-off among the bats (now in its third or fourth year - each one worse than the next) has caused an in-balance among the insects (I am just guessing on this one though). The mosquitos have been unbearable. I have uploaded a picture from last year. A spicebush on the buddleia - doesn't quite catch its irridescence - I am a bit new to all of this. Is milk weed the same as Eupatorium (Joe Pye Weed). It is reassuring to know you have seen plenty - I feel it means they will be back next year or soon.
I don't think Joe Pye Weed is the same as Milk Weed. I have tried for a couple of years now to start Joe from seed and think maybe I got one plant started this year. If it is Joe and not a stray weed, the leaves look totally different than milk weed. It has a small bloom on it but I don't know if the weather will hold long enough for it to bloom out. What is this about the die off of bats?! I hadn't heard this horrible news. When I hear of these things I just cringe. We have done so much damage to our environment I shouldn't even be surprised anymore. Great picture!
I checked out Milkweed on Wikipedia and the picture looks similar to Joe but not the same. Joe Pye likes it damp (where I currently have the buddleia) and did very well for me for a couple of years but I had not learnt to cut back in the early part of the season to keep them smaller so when they became tall and rather messy must have cut back too hard - i need to get a new plant and start again - Milkweed looks and sounds wonderful - I have added it to my list of plants to find and test out. Here is the scoop on the Bats - very distressing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_nose_syndrome. I saw a magazine article a couple of years ago but now this all over the media in the Northeast.
I have tons of wild milkweed that is about to go to seed. If you give me an address I will gladly mail you some!!! Beware, they spread. The ones I have get about 6 feet tall and grow all over around here. I also have orange butterfly weed that is going to have seeds ready too if you would like some of those. The milkweed blooms have a strong spicy smell that is wonderful. We are hearing nothing of the bats here in Indiana. We have caves in the southern part of the state and I am wondering why this hasn't even been mentioned on the news.
