Thursday, June 23, 2016

Buddleja davidii Butterfly bush season

Butterfly bush blooms


On the breakfast table 

Butterflies are not the only ones who love them; I do, too! And some of the modern ones are a big improvement over the old ones. 'Buzz Magenta', seen above with 'Black Knight', is both floriferous and compact.
To get the most out of them, the spent flowers have to be removed. If you have the time to do that, you'll get flowers right through the growing season. If you don't have the time to remove the spent flowers on all of your bushes, concentrate on one.
Their fragrance reminds me of honey.
These plants are easily propagated from cuttings.
For generations the name was spelled Buddleia. I'll bet most people in the English-speaking world were shocked when the spelling Buddleja appeared. But you have to remember that this word Buddleja is not simple English (although based on an English family name): what looks like the letter "J" to us in not that letter at all. It's in fact the semivowel form of the the Latin letter "I" (which, to continue the confusion, is pronounced "ee"). Since the eponym's name, Buddle,  was probably pronounced to rhyme with "puddle", and since the semivowel is pronounced "ya", a sensible pronunciation is "BUD-ul-ya".  Well, at any rate, that's sensible to me.
Note from early evening: this post was written in the morning when I brought the bouquet in from the deck outside. After the bouquet had been inside for a few hours, I began to notice that the scent is very free on the air - it had filled the kitchen and was noticeable in nearby rooms. The very pleasant scent reminds me of that of a meadow in full bloom. More, please...

2 comments:

glenn howard said...

My Black Knight was devastated by last winter including dead trunks/roots that were removed in spring but it has made a full recovery this summer and is feasted upon lately by tiger swallow tails and hummingbirds.. it was blown over 10 years ago and replanted/recovered... very hardy

Anonymous said...

My Black Knight was devastated by last winter including dead trunks/roots that were removed in spring but it has made a full recovery this summer and is feasted upon lately by tiger swallow tails and hummingbirds.. it was blown over 10 years ago and replanted/recovered... very hardy... Glenn Howard