My Buddleia made it!

10 years ago

When I was thinking of possible casualties this winter, my first year Buddleia 'Blue Heaven' was top on the list. I know we had at least a couple of minus 23 F nights and weeks and weeks of teens below zero and lots of days were it stayed in the negative numbers for highs. But it made it!

I was just outside doing some early cleaning and trimming and when I got to this plant and started to cut it back, I hit green tissue. In fact, a lot of the branches were green to the tips and starting to bud out.

I didn't give it any special protection other than the leaves that blew in over the winter and we did have good snow cover all winter, so that must be what helped it to survive. I wanted to wait and see if this plant made it before I ventured into more Buddleia territory. Now I can.

Kevin

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Comments (6)

prairiemoon2 z6b MA
10 years ago
I'll have to look a little closer at mine too, Kevin. Glad your made it!
dbarron
10 years ago
I couldn't hardly keep Buddleia in Oklahoma...congrats!
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gardenweed_z6a
10 years ago
I'm happy for you Kevin!! Buddleia is tougher than some folks give it credit for. I'm in CT and it grows well here. In PA just to the west of me it's listed as invasive.

My own plants were grown from seed via winter sowing. When they sprouted, the container looked like a Chia pet so at a guess I'd say germination had to be 100%.

Is your 'Blue Heaven' rated as hardy in Z5? If yes, the nursery where you bought the plant should offer some sort of guarantee that it can survive whatever Z5 throws at it, even over an extreme winter. As with most perennials, the longer it's in the ground, the better its chances of surviving your winter conditions.

Congrats on your Buddleia!

I'm finally seeing some basal growth on a few of my own garden treasures, including blooms on several Hellebores. Yippee!!
aachenelf z5 Mpls
Original Author
10 years ago
gardenweed - Yes, it is rated as a zone 5 plant, but I purchased it mail order and not at a local nursery. In fact, I can't remember ever seeing Buddleia offered locally, but I don't do a lot of garden center shopping.

I think most nurseries around here are pretty conservative with their offerings since "technically" most of MN is still listed as a zone 3-4 state. From my observations however, where I'm at in the city, it hasn't behaved like zone 4 in over 15 years. Yes, this past winter was brutal, but most of that was because we just haven't felt cold like that in so long.

I have a feeling the losses in my garden are not going to be very bad if what I saw today is any indication. It's still very early - scilla are just starting to poke through, but I was seeing new growth on a lot of things today. Give me a couple more weeks and I should have a better idea.

Now I wish I wouldn't have tossed all those clippings from my Buddleia trimming today. I bet I could have used them to start more plants.

K
david883
10 years ago
Congrats! I'm planning on doing some trimming on mine soon.... I'm anxious to see if mine was as lucky as yours but I also just don't want to know ha ha
katob Z6ish, NE Pa
10 years ago
That's great news, it gives me hope for my own bushes. I cut them back this weekend, but didn't find a bit of green!