Stormy Weather

[salymap]

Morning cavatina, Have a good Prom season and give the RAH my love. saly

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

.... back in the UK and breathing MOIST air with less dust and more O2 .... and the Hollyhocks are 10ft high and flowering with brilliant coral pink blooms! [their first flowering and quite dwarf the yard]

[salymap]

Calum you would know this. I always thought Buddlia [known as the butterfly bush] was a good thing to have. It is now all over the bottom of my garden but as least I can see a bit of colour from the house. Should I get someone to cut it back or not? Congrats on your Hollyhocks.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

i am no expert salymap. if it were in my patch i would leave it until autumn and then cut back quite hard since it will grow like billyo but i stand open to advice from those with more horticultural knowledge ...

[Chris Newman]

Buddleia is best pruned in late winter/early spring according to the experts: Monty Don and the late Geoff Hamilton recommended taking it down to 8 inches. It is not common knowledge but it is fine to let it seed naturally and grow (indeed it is excellent for butterflies) but it is now illegal to plant buddleia in Britain as it is classed as an invasive plant along with Common Ragwort, Giant Hogweed, Japanese Knotweed and Rhodedendron.

[salymap]

Thank you Chris, i didn't'plant' the buddleia, it must have been left by birds. Nothing has been planted for years, I pay to have the grass and hedges cut, the flower beds are left to cope on their own and only the flower 'thugs' remain, plus one or two shrubs. I was soooo proud of my herbaceous perennials too.

[Chris Newman]

Keep it, saly. It does wonders for the butterflies. And if pruned looks attractive.

[Anna]

I've been away, no computer, tv or radio - Bliss! Returned last Monday and trawling back see I missed Mahlerei's introduction to his new love! Oh, she is so adorable I'm sure he is totally besotted with such a charmer.

Buddleia, the common one, is basically a giant weed. However, there is a very dark, deep purple one, called Black Knight which is wonderful, they are always worth a space in the garden if only as food for the butterflies and bees. But, is it really illegal now to plant it - I never knew that! When was that Law passed?

[Chris Newman]

I am going by a comment made by Chris Packham on Spring Watch a couple of weeks back when he talked about the classified invasive plants and the law in Britain. He was in North Wales and they had a feature on getting rid of Rhodedendrons which were taking over Snowdonia. He mentioned the positive side of Buddleia and urged people to use common sense as the last two years have been good for butterflies in Britain and we do not want to put the clock back by throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

[Panjandrum]

Buddleia, the common one, is basically a giant weed. However, there is a very dark, deep purple one, called Black Knight which is wonderful, they are always worth a space in the garden if only as food for the butterflies and bees. But, is it really illegal now to plant it - I never knew that! When was that Law passed?

A little knowledge, as always, is a dangerous thing. Mr Packham should get his facts right. Essentially, there are laws surrounding invasive non-native plants. Dumping unwanted plants, for example in a local stream or woodland, is an offence. It is also an offence to plant or otherwise cause to grow in the wild invasive non-native plants listed on Schedule 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act (including buddleja (sic)). Government has powers to ban the sale of invasive plants, although at the moment no such bans are in place.

[Anna]

I've just been on the Defra website reading about Buddleia, if anyone else is interested there is a link which also leads to further info about it

https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/nonnativespecies/factsheet/factsheet.cfm?speciesId=581

[salymap]

Thanks Anna, my buddleia looks nice from my kitchen window and as my gardening days are done it will stay til late Autumn or even early Spring as Chris says.

Have you had an update on the adorable but very playful pup 'Sky'? She sounds a handful, to put it mildly.

[Anna]

Thanks Anna, my buddleia looks nice from my kitchen window and as my gardening days are done it will stay til late Autumn or even early Spring as Chris says.

Have you had an update on the adorable but very playful pup 'Sky'? She sounds a handful, to put it mildly.

Funnily enough the only buddleia I planted in the garden lasted just two years before dying! There are two lovely ones in the hedgerow by the bus stop which are absolutely alive with bees and butterflies.

No, haven't heard any more about the puppy except what Mahlerei posted a while ago, perhaps she's wearing him out!!

[Serial_Apologist]

To me, Sky seemed such an odd name for Mahlerei (of all people) to choose - even before the current scandal.

Sky's the limit - hmm, could become a new catchphrase

[salymap]

Oddly enough S_A, Mahlerei used 'Sky's the limit' in a message to me, referring to the lively puppy I'm sure. Or perhaps it had a double meaning

Sorry aboutthat rather muddled PM the other day. I wish they didn't do all that quoting on the return space.