Buddleya (Butterfly Bush)

[txbeyer]

I was excited to finally see my variegated Butterfly Bush (Buddleja davidii 'harlequin' in bloom with deep rich purple color adding to the nice variegated foliage. This plant is a winner in my opinion and I recommend it to anyone if you see it at your local nursery. Click on link above to see picture in photo gallery.

[kancheta]

I have one I bought this spring with regular foliage, kinda fuzzy leaves and it did great blooming like crazy with all the rain. Now it looks like it is dying and leaves are all curling. Any advise?

[txbeyer]

Buddleja is a deciduous shrub that grows very fast when spring arrives, then blooms which makes the plant think it's reproductive job is done for the year so tends to go into decline, not dormancy UNLESS pruned back up to 1/3rd. This forces new growth to emerge and they bloom on new growth, so try pruning them back 1/3rd the size of the shrub and you should get repeat blooming. You can repeatedly do this until real dormancy hits in early winter.

[kancheta]

Thanks a lot. I will try that tomorrow. It looks really bad and this is my first time growing it so I didn't know what to do. I knew you would give me a good answer Thanks again so much. I really didn't want to lose it.

[kancheta]

I think I figued out the problem. It was drownding! I had some friends come over this morning to help me make a new bed and I decided to dig it up and put it back in a pot in order to make a raised bed there and then replant it. I cut it back then dug it up and the root ball was like wet muddy clay. I repotted it with good draining soil and am going to ammend the raised bed for better drainage. Poor thing. I hope it survives. The area it was in normally drains pretty good but with all this rain we had it was too saturated.

[txbeyer]

OK, that obviously is it's problem. Buddleja is recommended for Central Texas because it is a draught tolerant plant and does well in dry conditions. Cutting it back will help it though, esp. when transplanting. Good luck with it. I had a similar thing happen on a sloped area with shallow limestone base 12" down that became soggy - too soggy for the plant there. Go figure!

[kancheta]

Thanks, Hopefully it will survive.