by Marie Ravening
(Bunbury W.A.)
Buddleia
I live in Bunbury W.A. and want to plant 2 or 3 Buddleias.
Bunbury soil is ancient tired sand which can be improved.
I’d like to plant a white, a lavender, and a lolly pink.
Are there varieties that would suit my area?
Will strong winds damage them badly?
Can I prune them underneath to grow into small trees?
Comments for Buddleia advice.
Jan 06, 2021
Ask
by: Jacki Cammidge, Certified Horticulturist
Your best source to ask about specific varieties that do best in your conditions will be your local garden center. They’ll be most familiar with the soil conditions and also if the wind will be a problem.
Buddleia is not commonly grown as a windbreak. To attract butterflies, they would do best with other trees and shrubs planted behind them to shelter them.
Your idea of pruning them up, to take on a small tree form, may not work. Buddleia are known to die back, even in fairly mild climates, and require cutting back to soil level. Depending on your planting zone, this could be a routine thing, or only once every two to three years.
There are other shrubs that might suit this kind of treatment better than Buddliea.
If you decide to go ahead on this anyway, stay away from the lower growing varieties like those in the ‘Lo and Behold’ collection or those labeled ‘dwarf’.
