I bought the Davidii two years ago, dead this spring. Two dwarf varieties the next year, one yellow and one pink, also kicked the bucket this year. Last spring I bought two dwarf whte ones and by early winter they also went to Davie Jones' locker !! I don't know what it is !! . I can grow other things pretty well and Buddleias are "supposed to be easy !! What could I be doing wrong ? I water them when needed, fertilize them in spring but they give up the ghost instead of thriving Dead, dead, and dead.
So strange that they don't grow. Must be the climate. Most buddleias are illegal here. You can grow marijuana with certain restrictions, but not species buddleias. Such strange times. It's because they are so highly invasive. I have some legal buddleias. They are interspecific hybrids, and not make fertile seeds, so not invasive. A couple of them are the Flutterby Grande series, which when I bought them were advertised as only growing 5 feet tall. They have since changed that. Mine are so vigorous, they must be 25 feet tall. I cut them to the ground and they grow back to that height in a couple of years. I also have the interspecific, sterile, hybrids Miss Molly. Not as gigantic, nice fragrance, very vigorous but only about six feet tall. I used to want to grow breadseed poppies. They are the same as opium poppies, also illegal. I dont grow them, for that reason.
Miss Molly is one of the ones I had that died last fall. I can only assume that they don't like heat ??? I just am totally confused by them !!
Annie, these plants are ordinarily very tough as you say. This leads me to think that your plants have a problem with root rot. My first thought was Phytophthora which likes to attack Buddleia, but there was another one I couldn't remember the name of, so I looked it up....It's called Rhizoctonia. I can only think of trying to fix this kind of problem with fungicide on the roots into the soil, but apart from that - don't know. How do the plants behave during the time before their demise? Has there been any clue with insects or moulds etc. ?
It's not root rot because none of them can be pulled out of the ground. I tried that as my first thought was that but pulling got me nowhere and my arms are very strong, normally I have no trouble pulling up a plant. They're an enigma to me !!
Maybe dig the buddliea’s up check the roots . If roots are still good then trim off all the above ground dead branches replant in a different place with good soil. In a few weeks new leaves will form . My buddliea’s don’t do much of anything til late June / early July in my zone 8b. New shrubs need plenty of water the first few years until established .
I was 8b until they moved us to 9a. Here, the first spring after I planted it, it leafed out in late March. As a matter of fact, it had a few new shoots coming out this spring then, when I next looked, they were gone. Checked the bark with my fingernail, in multiple places, looking for green underneath...all brown. I'm definitely going to dig it out after the rain expected for today. We'll see what's going on there. Since all 5, no matter the variety, nor location have died, I'm starting to think it's either my weather or something in the soil that's causing their demise. I have mole crickets that tunnel under ground but they prefer grass roots and all of my other plants and shrubs are thriving, so...
I have no problem with them in the northeast. Bought one, have rooted several from clippings for around my yard and as gifts to friends and family. But don't give up.
I also thought that it could be root knot nematodes. I have them here but the only time I've had issue with them was on my first veg garden, before I got the raised beds, where they infested my tomato plants which were in ground. After it rains, which it should be doing any time now, the digging will be easier and I'll see if that was the issue.
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/shrubs/butterfly-bush/how-to-revive-butterfly-bush.htm Have a look at this page Annie
I read that through, thanks @Tetters I did scratch the wood, no green could I find but, I suppose I could cut it back to what they showed in the photo and see what happens. That refers to the large Davidii. The two small ones I'll try it but I don't think there is at all any hope for those. I can always remove them later if they truly are dead.
It seems like the roots might still be quite strong from what you say. I was remembering the ice you talked about earlier on, and the hurricane that shot through your place. I have a really tough clematis here that has a completely dead side, and we decided that the cold Easterly wind we had was the cause of that!! You never know, it might come back from the bottom - they're usually so tough.
Funnily enough, outside of the trees that got destroyed none of my other plants suffered from either the hurricanes or the snow and ice. Everything but the "cry-baby" buddleias popped right back up. I don't like a cry-baby. " Buck up and grow you sucker !! "
