Butterflies

[albaqwerty]

Where Mr Alba has been working for the previous few days, at break he's gone outside to admire the grounds/gardens and has been delighted to see so many different styles/colours of butterlies.

He now wants us to get lots of Buddleia to encourage them to visit our postage stamp of a garden, don't have a problem with that.

No question really, am just pleased he enjoyed seeing some wonderful butterflies.

[Gill1941]

Buddleia takes very easily from cuttings. Any neighbour who has one should be able to give you loads. Always cut mine right back after flowering - stops them seeding everywhere. Just come in from doing last one now. That Blue Chip looks good.
Not many butterflies here this year even with lots of butterfly friendly plants. Good to hear they are still somewhere.

[scooping]

French lavender is ideal and, in my view, much more attractive than what is referred to English lavender. The heads are much larger AND there is the great other benefit that our endangered bees love the stuff. So you can help the butterflies and the bees.

[mikey4444]

Scoops....agree about the French Lavender....I like those little bunny ears !

[hereIam]

Errr I didn't provide a link at all !
Ha ha Talbot.
I would send you some if I could albs, think I may get rid of it and buy one of those compact ones.

[hereIam]

No, they don't need root powder, my one was a small cutting which I just literally plonked into the ground a few years ago and now is a HUGE tree !

[ladybirder]

Alba, you could take cuttings from Buddleias almost anywhere for free. They grow like weeds on waste land, near railway lines etc. Or perhaps you have a neighbour who has one? But you need to wait until early spring to take a fresh shoot as a cutting.

[baza]

Next door let half their back garden grow wild this year and we have seen lots of butterflies , my budd however, has not had any flowers on it for 2 years.

[mikey4444]

Lady....the difficulty with that approach, is that you will soon end up with Buddleia and nothing but Buddleia !

[ladybirder]

I wasn't suggesting, or didn't mean to suggest, that she should cut lots. But better to take more than you need to make sure you get at least one take successfully.
My two Buds haven't had many butterflies on them this year either, but my lavenders have had lots of bees and butterflies.

[mikey4444]

Alba....personally, I would go with Lavender. Obtainable just about everywhere, including Lidl I notice !

[jambutty]

I have a buddleia and I too have seen very few butterflies in the last couple of years, so I'm glad to hear that others have plenty. Wonder why it varies so much?

[ethandron]

I think I'm the only person in the entire world who can't grow buddleia. They grow on waste land, off high buildings, rubbish dumps, but not my garden. Have tried three times, with three different types, to no avail.