Well, your plant, no doubt, was artificially encouraged to bloom early by being held in greenhouse or at least nursery conditions. Plants that are held even in unheated "cold storage" houses with white nursery plastic wake up sooner than do ones growing outside in the field, because even the white plastic traps some heat. And, this early, early warm spring no doubt helps.

Yes, it is pretty normal for Buddleia to start blooming in July here in my area (Detroit) and continue to hard frost.

BUT, BUT, BUT, you also need to realize that this plant tends to be a die-back perennial in the colder zones, so it needs to start essentially "from scratch" every year. This past winter, the woody parts on all of mine survived, so I do expect them to begin to bloom earlier than average, although I honestly haven't paid much attention to see if they are beginning to bud yet.

The most important thing about overwintering it to mulch DEEPLY, at least 6 inches, twelve is better, over the crown with some type of mulch that isn't prone to compacting (I use oak leaves, they don't mush down nearly as fast as maple, ash, or most other leaves). Put the mulch on just before you think the ground will freeze up for the season (I do it around Thanksgiving here), and take it off about the time the daffodils bloom).

If you could have seen this plant when I picked it up about 5 weeks ago I think you would conclude that this plant had not been 'artificially encouraged' to bloom. Is it possible that there are some newer varieties of BB which flower sooner than more 'traditional' BB?

(FWIW and maybe not much, the developer of this plant, Ballhort.com lists the Blooming Season as Spring, Early Spring, Late Spring, Summer, Late Summer)

I do know that BB die back completely. My comment concerning early planting as being helpful for surviving a first winter is because this will give the bush more time to establish a more mature root system.

Well, I'm sure its entirely possible that some BB cultivars bloom earlier than others -- look at daylilies. 'Stella D'oro' begins to bloom here for me in May, while some such as 'Chicago Apache' don't begin to bloom until mid/late July.

denninmi wrote:

The most important thing about overwintering it to mulch DEEPLY, at least 6 inches, twelve is better, over the crown with some type of mulch that isn't prone to compacting (I use oak leaves, they don't mush down nearly as fast as maple, ash, or most other leaves). Put the mulch on just before you think the ground will freeze up for the season (I do it around Thanksgiving here), and take it off about the time the daffodils bloom).

Thanks for this info.

But what I find frustrating and I am sure has been noted many times on GW is that almost all BB are listed as hardy to zone 5 yet it is so 'hit and miss' regarding their ability to over winter each year. It shouldn't be this 'hard'. Just label them as zone 6 or breed it with better cold hardy characteristics.

To give your bush an even better chance, don't prune it until it starts growing again next spring.

Yup I do know to wait and wait and wait in the spring as BB take a long time to show green. And I know it is best to prune in the spring (and not the winter).

I think the issue with my lack of success has been due to less than ideal drainage. This particular bush has been planted closer to our home and it is higher up...so I am hopeful. But as an added back up I will say a little prayer each night during the winter ;).

denninmi wrote:

The most important thing about overwintering it to mulch DEEPLY, at least 6 inches, twelve is better, over the crown.

I am just thinking ahead...to keep so much mulch next to the plant over the whole winter (it would blow away) should one setup a surrounding perimeter of staked burlap say...maybe 1 foot away from the unpruned plant and fill it with such leaf mulch?

I haven't had any significant problems with it blowing away. A bit at first, it helps a lot of it is wet when you put it down, but that isn't usually an issue in late November in Michigan as you probably know.

Regarding hardiness zones -- you don't thing growers would EVER stretch the truth to sell more, do you??? Perish the thought -- a few years back, they had dwarf crepe myrtles at Lowes labeled as hardy to Zone 4. Spare me, even in 6 they are not all that reliable as a dieback perennial with deep mulch, every few years a winter comes along that takes some of them out -- I'm down to one or two of the original 7 or 8 I planted in-ground about close to a decade ago.

Here is a link that might be useful: Yeah, sure, Minnesota is overrun with crepe myrtles

I appreciate your post, rouge21, because I just planted a "Low and Behold" BB at our zone 6a cabin, and I had no idea about the hardiness issue. I did plant it with good drainage, and now I know to really mulch it heavily at Thanksgiving(and pray of course). Couldn't I just dump a bag of shredded pine bark on it(and pray)? The oak leaves blow around a lot on the mountain top where I am trying to create a beautiful, but deer resistant landscape.

I have a few Lo and Beholds coming into bloom now-they started showing the buds at least a week ago if not longer. My first one is JUST staring to show purple instead of green. A few others are starting to show the blooms too, but until they bloom I can't recall which ones are which. One I'm pretty sure is Bicolor and the other is black knight.

We're considered 6b here, but we're RIGHT on the lake, as in, it's my backyard, so our seasons run later (my shasta daisies are JUST now starting to bloom). I didn't have die-back on any BBs this past winter (their first winter here), and I didn't mulch them either. 14 various BB's (ruby red, black knight, bicolor and lo and behold) all made it through fine. I have one more that was a freebie (I just had to dig it up) that I don't know what it is-it was pretty rough around the edges when I got it and it never did bloom last year.

I also have about 90 others that were all bought this spring as rooted cuttings, some are more robust now than others, but all that made it (I bought 100) are handling whatever the weather does fine.