I have a white one . I prune it hard straight after flowering because I don't like the dead fowers. It's flowering well at the moment. I don't do anything to it in the spring.
Well they don't 'like' it but it naturally produces a more compact form that looks more beautiful, and makes them divert more energy into flowering relative to producing foliage. It's what they're adapted for... put them in a good soil and they they can grow so big and fast they can fall apart. The usual way around this is to coppice them.
"What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour".
People generally don't prune them hard enough. You can saw them back to s*d all and they'll send out more shoots. Simples. The bog standard one which grows everywhere isn't really like the cultivated varieties either. It thrives on serious neglect. The flowers on the white ones are spectacular, but they also look worse when going over because you see the brown tatty flowerhead far more than on the darker varieties.
Easy to move - shallow rooted. That's also the reason it's good to cut back in autumn if you're in a windy site.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I wouldn’t part with mine, they’re tidy, long blooming then when you cut them down they’re even tidier. They are full of butterflies and I couldn’t count the bees. Definitely a keeper for me. Excuse the dead heads, I need to get on with that.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
We have buddleja globosa near our kitchen. Every winter it is cut right back to its base and every year it grows and flowers and welcomed by many different bees and butterflies.
We also have in the shrubery a buddleja davidii. We sometimes leave it alone but then it gets too big so it is pruned back. This one hardly attracks any bees or butterflies. Strange times.
I bought 2 “patio buddleias “ a couple of years ago, they are finally getting into their stride now and have been covered in flower spikes for weeks now. They seem to love life in a big pot and stay so much more compact than their bigger brothers.
Marne la vallée, basically just outside Paris 🇫🇷, but definitely Scottish at heart.
My buddleias always have loads of bees and butterflies on them. I inherited a very mature white one here, which I had to move. It got hacked to the ankles, dug out and unceremoniously dumped on a bank of earth, as I had nowhere for it to go [and I was getting an extension built ] and it flowered like mad the following year. It wasn't even properly planted - just dumped
They don't need cossetting.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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Well they don't 'like' it but it naturally produces a more compact form that looks more beautiful, and makes them divert more energy into flowering relative to producing foliage. It's what they're adapted for... put them in a good soil and they they can grow so big and fast they can fall apart. The usual way around this is to coppice them.
The bog standard one which grows everywhere isn't really like the cultivated varieties either. It thrives on serious neglect.
The flowers on the white ones are spectacular, but they also look worse when going over because you see the brown tatty flowerhead far more than on the darker varieties.
Easy to move - shallow rooted. That's also the reason it's good to cut back in autumn if you're in a windy site.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
They are full of butterflies and I couldn’t count the bees. Definitely a keeper for me.
Excuse the dead heads, I need to get on with that.
I inherited a very mature white one here, which I had to move. It got hacked to the ankles, dug out and unceremoniously dumped on a bank of earth, as I had nowhere for it to go [and I was getting an extension built ] and it flowered like mad the following year. It wasn't even properly planted - just dumped
They don't need cossetting.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...