White Flower Spikes?

blakrab Centex

5 years ago

This ~5' tall bush with ~7" white flower spikes was found planted in a campus landscape. What is it?

Featured Answer

Jay 6a Chicago

5 years ago

Tiffany, nurseries should make money for their plants. What I meant was that, there are plants that are highly advertised like Gaillardia, Buddleja and some Echinacea cultivars. They are claimed to be winter hardy, but they aren't, and because people love them so much, they will buy new replacements every year. This applies really to us gardeners up in the north, like zone 6 and colder. Doesn't really apply to you in the deep south. It is nice to smell their fragrance waft and see beautiful butterflies on them. But the shortifespan and persistent deadheading? Up here we have to replace them often, and many times they can turn out to be expensive annuals. $30 or more annuals. I think it's insane to spend that much on an annual,( unless it's Impatiens nabchabarwensis).😁

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (9)

lindac92
5 years ago
Buddeleia.
blakrab Centex thanked lindac92
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
5 years ago
Strictly speaking Buddleja. Demonstrating the scruffy habit and persistent dead brown flowers which it will hold onto unless dead headed. I can never understand why it‘s so popular.
blakrab Centex thanked floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
Related Professionals
Poughkeepsie Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Salt Lake City Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Athens Landscape Contractors · Abilene Landscape Contractors · Winona Landscape Contractors · Watertown Landscape Contractors · Sioux Falls Landscape Contractors · Hudson Landscape Contractors · Wilmington Stone, Pavers & Concrete · Augusta Stone, Pavers & Concrete · Lexington Stone, Pavers & Concrete · Southaven Stone, Pavers & Concrete · New London Stone, Pavers & Concrete · Plymouth Stone, Pavers & Concrete · Vancouver Stone, Pavers & Concrete
bengz6westmd
5 years ago
floral_uk, I assume it's popular for the butterflies and that it keeps flowering for months attracting them. At least that's why I have mine -- I really don't care all that much what it looks like. Many plants can attract butterflies, but most of those have limited blooming periods.
Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
5 years ago
That's why I have some. Not as popular with the flying garden visitors as Lantana, but it gets some attention.
Jay 6a Chicago
5 years ago
The butterflies of NA did just fine without Buddleja for millions of years. Everything floral said. Monkey see, monkey do. Have to be tidied up daily, not reliably winter hardy, slow to emerge in spring, when they do return. Why you'll think you have to grow them? Plants Zinnia to attract butterflies instead. Out west there's the invasive issue. Big nurseries making a killing with people buying replacement BBs every spring.
blakrab Centex thanked Jay 6a Chicago
Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
5 years ago
Hi, Jay! I started with a little cutting given to me by a friend around 30 yrs ago, having never seen (or probably more accurately, never noticed) a BB before that. A sterile cultivar that never produced a single seedling, but I have taken some with me when I've moved to a new place. Agree about Zinnias.

Why shouldn't nurseries make $ selling plants that people want to buy?
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
5 years ago
They're invasive here too, growing along rail line,s, out of walls and on building sites by the acre. Although butterflies like the nectar they provide no larval food. I'm nothing like a natives species purist but I just can’t see much to like in Buddleja davidii, especially white ones, although something like Dark Night in the first flush of bloom after a hard pruning is striking. B alternifolia, weyeriana and globosa are more attractive imo. Just an opinion.
blakrab Centex thanked floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
5 years ago
That was not my experience in OH, Z5. I had BB's there until moving to AL in 2007.

Jeez, that Impatiens is gorgeous!! I'm totally opening my wallet if I see that. Does it make viable seeds? It reminds me of Streptocarpella.