Buddleia planning

[Lifeispassingby]

I currently have no option to plan in the ground but absolutely love buddleia- is it possible to grow in pots? Obviously guessing it would need to be a large pot but do they take well to this?

I’m no buddleia expert but given they grow in cracks in walls I think you will be ok!

Buddleia is renowned for growing anywhere, even a crack in a path or the top of a wall! A pot will somewhat limit the potential size of the plant, so I'd go as large as you can afford, but certainly don't worry about growing it in a container! You can get dwarf/'patio' varieties that might be worth looking into if you'd like a more compact variety.

I don't understand why you'd want to grow them, they are dangerous near buildings and really ugly! PP is right, they grow anywhere as they are weeds?

Go for it. You can get more refined versions than the regular purple one which I love - it is the one covered in butterflies in the summer, it really is their favourite. I have a small variegated one in a pot but I still prefer the purple thug!

Oh my goodness the purple penis plant. They grown anywhere - I'm very not keen. But I wouldn't stress about how to plant it -
It's practically a weed.

Great for wildlife

I LOVE buddleja and have loads of them!

The dwarf varieties like ‘Buzz’ or ‘chip’ will grow fine in a small (30cm diameter minimum) pot and come in lots of colours; pink, red, light blue, navy, lavender, white.

You can get yellow and orange flowers in the bigger ones (I have two) and a lovely mixed colour where the flowers start off one colour at the bottom and blend into another colour at the top.
Those would need bigger pots as left to their own devices they reach around 10 feet tall.

They need a sunny spot

I hate them, but they're virtually indestructible! They can be a real thug of a plant, growing several feet in a year. They also tend to look scruffy. They do attract butterflies and other pollinators though.

I love them didn't know thet grow that quickly that's good to know as I wanted go buy some this year. Will plant near the road rather than the house

Recently a number of dwarf varieties have been developed, for pot growing

I'm very fond of buddleia, but they do look better at a distance! We have a white one that was stunning last year, but it's right at the top of the garden.

buddleia is wonderful for attracting butterflies and has a lovely scent.

If the OP or any of the weird buddleia-haters want an alternative great for butterflies that will be happy in pots and is incredibly easy to propagate, then sedum spectabile (recently reclassified as Hylotelephium spectabile) is good.

When it's seeded itself all over and crowded out lots of other plants and requires back-breaking work to remove it you'd probably hate it too!

A little tip for the butterfly lovers.

Buddleja is Tescos for Butterflies but if you really want an abundant population you need to set up a creche for the caterpillars.

Each butterfly species has a set of specific plants which they exclusively lay their caterpillar eggs on.

So if you want Painted Ladies you need to plant Cirsiums

If you want Peacocks or Red Admirals you need stinging nettles or hops

If you want a Large White - Cabbages

www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/foodplants.php?style=butterfly

When it's seeded itself all over and crowded out lots of other plants and requires back-breaking work to remove it you'd probably hate it too!
This is not true of most cultivated garden buddleja.

Many of the Buddleja species in people’s gardens are sterile and have to be propagated via cuttings.
They can’t ‘seed themselves all over’

Mature large buddleja are hard work to remove yes, so is any large deep rooted plant!

Normally I have an aversion to plants that might be classed as weeds and grow everywhere, but I really like buddleja.

I used to have some dwarf (they actual grew big) in whites, light and darker purple. I thought they looked like fireworks when the flowers came out.

I’m sure they will grow in pots.

I had buzz in a pot it was really lovely. Bees and butterflies loved it.

It didn’t seed all over the place either ... sadly.

Maybe the people who owned our house before us just planted lots and lots of buddleias and allowed them to run riot then. They were also fond of hypericum everywhere.