Description
Buddleja/Buddleia hybrid| Butterfly Bush ‘Ellens Blue’ (seedling of Buddleja ‘Lochinch’ [B. davidii x B. fallowiana])
The Butterfly Bush, also known as a Summer Lilac, is native to China with a natural habitat of forest clearings, riverbanks and limestone outcrops. They have been found to grow exceptionally well on waste grounds, demolition sites, railway-lines, and even in the mortar of walls.
Buddleja ‘Ellens Blue’ is a Buddleja that was discovered in 2008 as a stray seedling from a Buddleja ‘Lochinch’ plant in an Oswego, New York garden owned by Ellen Hornig, former owner of Seneca Hill Perennials, and was later introduced by Heronswood Nursery. Prized for its deep periwinkle-blue flower spikes and silver-green leaves, ‘Ellen’s Blue’ is a compact plant reaching 3-5 ft tall. This unique color in Buddlejas and its wonderful fragrant flowers make this a great butterfly bush introduction. The foliage stays semi-evergreen through the winter.
Following the Royal Horticultural Society’s Buddleja Euro-trials at Wisley, B. ‘Ellen’s Blue’ was recommended for an Award of Garden Merit in 2010 and tied for first place.
For the healthiest growth it is recommended to soft-prune in late autumn (to prevent wind-rocking) and then hard-prune down to your knees in April. Will continue to bloom if spent flowers are dead-headed.
Type: Perennial
Sun exposure: Full sun
Mature height: 3-5 ft
Mature width- 3-4 ft
Hardiness zones: 5-10
UNROOTED CUTTINGS:
- Price is for five cuttings (5)
- Each cutting is 4-9 inches long. May be single top or multi-top.
- Guaranteed to be green, healthy, and alive. Plus pest and pathogen free.
- Guaranteed to be true-to-name.
- Please only order unrooted cuttings if you are familiar and comfortable with rooting plants
- Plant orders shipped out on Monday and Tuesday ONLY.
- If it’s believed the plants are not alive and healthy when you receive them you must let us know any concerns you have within 24 hours of arrival. If we do not hear any concerns within 24 hours it will be assumed that everything arrived in good standing. We cannot be held responsible for mishaps, errors, mistakes, or bad luck after this time frame.
ROOTING INSTRUCTIONS:
How to prepare cuttings to root via rooting cubes inside a humidity dome.
- Upon arrival, give cuttings a new fresh cut on the bottom of the stem. Then set in a cup of water for a minimum of 15 minutes.
- After soaking, gently cut or scrape small marks into the bottom portion of the plant stem (½ inch) with scissors or a razor blade.
- Dip the scarred end of the stem into rooting gel or rooting powder (gel is superior). This can be done without rooting gel, but results are not as good.
- Insert the plant stem into a rooting cube (Oasis cubes, grow plugs, soil-cubes, rock-wool cubes, etc) and place into a nursery tray with a humidity dome over the top. One cutting per cube. Custom individual humidity domes can be made using plastic cups and/or plastic cling wrap.
- After the first 3-5 days, the humidity dome should be opened up or set ajar to slowly allow more air in as the plants start to root. At this point, the cubes should be allowed to become mostly dry before adding any more water.
- Once 2-3 roots grow out of the bottom of the root-cube, the plant can be transplanted into soil.
- More detailed rooting instructions will accompany your order.
We ship plants orders out on Mondays and Tuesdays only.
