I thought they were die-back shrubs. Mine come back from the ground every year.

Not here, they are not :-) One of the reasons this plant is now considered invasive all along the west coast and in many states along the east coast. They seed profusely and will grow darn near anywhere, including up through cracks in concrete, along railroad right-of-ways and alongside roads.

This is a very timely thread for me, so I'll hop on. We're in Houston area (zone 8), and in the past 26 years I've tried planting buddleia 4-5 times -- all failures.

It'd been quite a while, and I wanted to start up the butterfly garden again late last fall. Found a purple and a white at our nursery's 75% off sale. Our summer weather extended well into fall, so I put them both into the ground. They did well, attracted butterflies, etc. I covered during our freezes, and both came back like gangbusters in late January.

While the white one still looks very healthy, the purple on the left has struggled after the initial couple of weeks.

Despite my efforts to prune back and dead head spent blooms, many of the branches are putting out very small leaves -- and those leaves generally don't reach more than 1" before they shrivel.

Not sure what's going on. I hope the white one remains healthy:

I'd read variously, gardengal, that these bushes are considered invasive, but my brown thumbs won't be the cause! :)

Really, I just don't understand. I noticed last year at our local Lowes a giant purple buddleia tree planted in the parking lot -- very narrow sliver of dirt, and I'm certain no one's watering that thing. It's rather beautiful, but I'd never seen a buddleia tree. (I tried decreasing the water for a few days when it got very warm, but the buddeias both got that mid-day droop.)

ETA: Sorry to go a bit OT, three4rd47 . To answer your question: yes! ;)

Yeah..I have to agree about the ironic nature of the "invasive" comment. I'm sure, gardengal, that you're absolutely correct, but it's just funny for people to read that that have trouble just keeping a few bushes going! Kind of like the wild rhododendrons that grow in the snowdonia area of Wales...they look like a forest...VERY invasive.

I don’t know how it is now, but there used to be huge ones along the railway track from Dover to London, UK. Here in Ontario they all died on me after 2 or 3 years, except for one self sown one. It was much bigger and much hardier than its parents. The colour was a rather uninteresting mauve, but it survived a good number of years, till I had to take it out as I was changing that part of the garden :-(.

Invasiveness is all due to location. In milder winter areas, this shrubs does not die back to the ground....in fact in some years it never even loses all its leaves!

While Buddleia davidii is listed as hardy to zone 5, many of the hybrids are only rated to zone 7 or 8, so exactly what you are growing may make a difference. And IME, this is a plant that thrives on neglect - no fussiness about soils as long as it is well draining (and the leaner the better), doesn't need fertilizing and is exceedingly drought tolerant. Wild seedlings here - and there are lots - get little to no water from late July through the end of September.

They do die, for no apparent reason, while the one next to them is fine. My remaining one (zone 6) has severe die-back every winter, but grows just fine. THey are strange plants.

BTW, the one I have is sterile, so maybe the fertile ones are shorter-lived?

I tried a B. davidii once that was supposed to be hardier than most, but it died in a colder than average winter after about 3 years. I almost never see them around here in nurseries, most likely because it is a bit too cold for reliable survival. I don’t remember seeing one in a garden closer than about 40 miles south of here. So here on the northern edge of zone 5, they don’t last long.

Sounds like I got lucky with the one I had for so long that apparently thought it was a deciduous tree rather than a butterfly bush. The thing was usually around 6' tall and probably around 4-5' wide in places. All I ever did was trim back some of the longer branches in the fall, but then in spring it'd start sprouting all over the place. Ironically, NEVER from the bottom though. So when that one died and I replaced it, that's the first I ever heard about them growing from the bottom.

Mine is Nanho Purple. Pretty hardy here, and the Tiger swallowtails love it . Doesn't seed around at all. It suffered quite a bit this year with the last ice storm, but with a little cutting back and a little love from some slow release fertilizer, it's coming back nicely.

Yes, at least near me, they are notoriously prone to fail.

Around here, I have lost all but two..I don't know why they die back not to come back. I planted 8 over the last two years and now only two left. It's very discouraging...I have no clue as to why I keep loosing them only to point my finger at very harsh winters?

I'm really depressed over loosing both my 'Dark Knights'((((

Mike

Looking more positive....growth is coming up from the bottom of the two plants that I suspected might have not made it through the winter.

They are very late to emerge and died back to the ground each winter for me, but every one I've ever had would die completely after 3 or so years. So, no more of them for me!

I am an expert on BB failure in my Canadian zone 5/6. Off the top of my head I would guess I have had 10 bushes fail with almost all not making it through even the first winter. (I suspect that the full size varieties are hardier than the compact 'minis' but I have no room for them).

Rouge_21gw, that gave me a chuckle. 10x! Gardeners are ever hopeful, aren’t they?

In the fall of 2015 I got a ‘Glass Slippers’ BB on sale. It survived two mild winters, but I did not really expect it to survive the last one. Lo and behold what I found this morning. It was covered in weeds, result of me spending most of May in Holland.

My first butterfly bush that succeeded was one I grew from seed. It was a huge one that lasted at least 7 years - I don't have a record of which year I planted it but it was already pretty big in pictures I still have from 2008, so I'm guessing I planted it in 2006 or 2007. It died in the winter of 2013/2014 which was a very nasty winter. When we dug out the stump, it was very large and went very deep.

BB in its final summer (2013):

stump the next spring:

All other butterfly bushes have disappeared quickly! The current surviving one is a dwarf white one (can't find the tag so not sure of the name or exactly when it was planted but I think I planted it in 2014 after losing the big one in the pictures above.) This spring there was only a few live bits at the base. Yesterday we were working in the front garden and I was looking for it to see if it survived. I couldn't find it at first but finally found it - a coneflower had seeded itself directly in front of the BB and was growing vigorously! Once I got rid of the coneflower, the BB is now visible and seems to be growing well.

I have decided to treat BB as an expensive annual!! If they survive for a few years, that's a bonus! Last week we planted a dwarf Buzz 'Ivory' one, so the wait is on to see how that one does....

From my experience I think if you want a big one that has a reasonable chance of living a few years, the best option is probably to grow it from seed.

That big one was BIG, Woody! Too bad it died in the end. My other survivor was also a large seed grown one, a self seeder. The survival of my last one may have something to do with improved drainage. I have heavy clay soil, but the BB is close to my ‘dry pond’, a low area of a few square feet that I dug out. Every fall I dig a shallow trench from the BB to the low patch, so all rain or melt water disappears from its feet. But maybe I am just kidding myself, and it will be gone next year :-0.

Looks like no one could use this info on possible death. Thanks anyways though

Mike, it looks like you could not use my info on how to keep them alive either, nor did anyone else. And that is fine. We all say what we have to say on the subject, sometimes that leads to a further discussion, sometimes it does not. In the whole thread there is only one ‘like’, and not from you either. Let’s keep on helping each other and admiring each other’s gardens, without counting replies and likes.

You know you made a good point. Guess we are all guilty of if over looking the fact that others are kind enough to spend the time helping others. Thanks for your info too! Really appreciate it )))

Do you think anyone would think they are worth growing if protected in winter with proper drainage ? I'm going to protect mine and make sure they are watered in )

Mike

I just planted my first one this week! Starting several new garden areas all from scratch. I appreciate all the info on here! I had no idea they might be hard to grow or wouldn't last more than a few years. Ugh. But I always like to keep trying new things.

Mike, I think it is always worth a try. If mine dies, am not sure I would try again, but you never know. Hope springs eternal, more eternal than butterfly bushes ;-).