Butterfly Bush, Buddleia davidii 'Wisteria Lane'

Planting Advice for Wisteria Lane Buddleia:

• Plant buddleias from late spring, as the soil warms. Container-grown plants can be planted right up to early autumn.
• Buddleias perform best in a sunny position in well-drained soil, although will tolerate most conditions apart from wet, heavy clay.
• Before planting soak container-grown shrubs thoroughly and allow to drain.
• Dig a planting hole 3 x wider than the roots of the shrub you're planting and mix some well-rotted compost or manure with the soil from the hole and use this to re-fill one the shrub is in place.
• Remove the plant from its pot and tease out a few of the roots.
• Add Mycorrhizal fungi to the roots when planting to help plants establish quicker.
• Place your shrub in the hole at the same level at the pot then refill the hole with the earth removed (backfilling).
• Firm in the soil with your heel, avoiding the root ball and water well.
• Mulch around the base of the plant with a collar, compost, gravel, bark etc

Care Advice for your buddleia:

• Mulch with manure in autumn or add a general-purpose fertiliser in late spring to improve the number of flowers, however, avoid a summer feed as too much fertility promotes leaf growth over flower production.
• Water freely when in growth and sparingly otherwise.
• Each spring apply a thin layer of mulch to retain moisture and control weeds.

Pruning Advice for Buddleia 'Wisteria Lane'

• Deadhead buddleia as the flowers fade to encourage new shoots and flower buds. Take off any spent blooms at the end of the year to prevent unwanted seedlings.
• Buddleias will tolerate severe pruning although this should be avoided until late spring.
• When no frost is forecast, cut stems down to around 30cm (1ft) to encourage larger flowers. If you want a taller plant, for example at the back of a border, stems can be left to 60cm (2ft).