Buddleia Buzz Dwarf Buddleia..good for a pot.

My buddliea buzz seems to be a fair bit bigger than the 3ft they suggest! It's a beautiful magenta/violet colour. Might think about staking it next year ... pah that was the whole reason for getting a minature one, oh well! My cat is obsessed with it at the moment, but then she's obsessed with butterflies!

I'm not sure whether to congratulate you or commiserate!....this is one of the 'freebies' from GW via TM. It was a tiny tiny rooted cutting when it came, so I am pleased it has survived. The other two didn't. I've stuck it in the ground. I like the silvery foliage. We'll have to see how big it gets next year Donna, but like you, the point of getting it was it's dwarf size!

Mine was from T&M too, three of them including a Sky Blue and Lavendar, I gave the others away as presents. There were teeny when I got them - around this time last year. I planted my one in the ground around June once I'd prepared some space for it. However I think the forkie tails like it too, the leaves are riddled in holes! I'll go and take a photo of it.....

Yes, they do Donna...my buddlejas are all like lace!

I just bought one on eBay, swayed by the "dwarf" tag. Hope it's true! mine will have to stay in a container, which might help to limit its growth.

the blurb says: "This Dwarf Buddleia only grows to 60cm approx. if kept in a container. Planted into the garden it will reach approx. 120cm. The scented flowers are produced from early summer and will attract butterflies to your garden. Buddleias prefer a sunny position in a well drained soil"

I take note of the "if"!!

In another post, Bamboo mentions an even smaller variety, "Blue Clip", though Google seems to prefer "Blue Chip"

Mmmm...I hadn't noticed the proviso about keeping it in a pot! I did have it in a pot...I could put it back in a pot..but we'll see what happens. It didn't grow too much at all last year, but we had an absolutely foul summer last year, worst I can remember in 25 years living up here. No sun at all, just rain and yuck. So I'm really hoping for a little better this year Fran! I've heard of Blue Clip, but that's only because I have a little campanula called that!

well, that's the seller's blub on the eBay item: they seem to be the only one selling, but they have several. doubt I'll have room for more than one, even if they stay fairly titchy.

I only get one hour direct sunlight a day (if I'm very lucky!) so I don't know how well it'll cope here. but there's only one way to find out.

it was a pre-sale order, which I hadn't noticed before i bought it: they're not lifting the plants till the 20th, so it won't arrive much before the end of the month

Only one hour Fran? goodness, you'll be setting your alarm to get out there and soak it up while it lasts! In that case though, have you considered the climbing rose 'Souvenir du Docteur Jamain'? It has dark wine red roses of a beautiful form and a lovely perfume, and it doesn't mind shade, and you can grow it in a decent sized pot. You won't get so many flowers of course in the shade. Have a look at this list....http://www.gardencountry.com/pages/shadeflwrs.html and Alan Titchmarsh's new book series 'How to...' has a book on gardening in shade which is excellent. Mind you,everything Alan does is excellent where I'm concerned! ;) lol Is that even in the height of summer that you only get the sun for an hour? I don't get sun on my house back wall at all until May, but most of the rest of the garden does get some sun at some point. My garden faces North-West. In summer it is very sunny all afternoon and evening, until the sun disappears behind my neighbours' houses :(

perfumed red roses .... heaven on two levels! thanks for that, Karen, I'll look it up. I have an ever-growing "short list" of possible roses - and, indeed,possible other plants - but am trying to think small, as I don't have any atual soil to dig into so everything has to be in containers, and not large ones at that, given the size of my garden.

I checked on BBC Plant-Finder, which is my usual first port of call: they don't have all the plants I look for, but when they do, the info is clear and concise - and large enough for me to see easily! so many sites I have to zoom in alarmingly to be able to read the text.

Bu tthen I read down a bit mroe and saw your link and followed that, and have saved it as well and will go through it item by item.

I probably get plenty of indirect sunlight - the block opposite has white panels that cause me to go around with one hand shading my eyes in the afternoon! so it's not dark as such, but certainly not diretly-sunned.

This block is built north-south and I'm about in the middle of it - my windows and garden, face east - should get a lot of sun, but ... there's a green beyond, with a lot of trees, and a block on the other side of the green and other at the north and south ends of this block, in an hollow square. The sun can only get at me drirectly around noon, and within 90 minutes at most it's gone over the roof.

Paradoxically, I get more light in winter, when the trees are bare - the warmer the season, the thicker the foliage, the less sun I get. (like there's more sunshine in winter anyway!)

My previous flat also faced east, but that was on the 7th floor, so the sunlight was uninterrupted - *s* my bed was under the window and I always slept with the curtains open, so in the morning I could just kick off the sheet and sunbathe! I didn't think to take into account tha tbeing on the ground floor would add more obstacles to an all-over suntan.

sigh, I have a solar-powered water feature which is absolutely nbg for me here - did think about trying to get it to work off Ever-Readies, or a battery pack rechareable from the mains, but I'd probably need to find one that's built that way. - I'm a tad paranoid about mains-powered features, since the ground's paved and so I couldn't put the cables out of harm's way, and, given my limited vision and mobility, I didn't want them trailing or dangling.

The only possible option would be to have it directly outside the back door, so the cable coulld go straight through the wall - but the nearest socket in the kitchen is on the other side of the room. There's always something ...

ps - I can't beleive that the RHS Plant Selector turns up 0 results for this rose! BBC Plant-Finder has it, Dave's Garden has it, Google found "about" 19,300 results ...

Fran, I find that the RHS website is next to useless! It drives me mad. If it weren't for the monthly magazine, which is excellent, I wouldn't renew my membership this year. :( That is a problem with the cable isn't it. Is there any way you could get an electrician to put an outdoor socket on the wall for you...a spur from a socket indoors? That's what OH did for my water feature and it works brilliantly. Last thing you want is trailing cables. How do you feel about Heucheras? They are great in pots, wonderful changes of colour through the year, evergreen and long flowering too! Some of them have very pretty bright pink flowers which can be quite striking, and they thrive in shade! I got totally hooked on them last year....just couldn't stop buying them up..bit of a joke on here, my recent Heuchera collection! :)))

I have a couple of Heucheras - at least I had before it started getting really cold, hope I still have them! small, from Lidl, not sure what variety off-hand, I listed them in my plants. I had two last year, too, but they didn't survive the snow then. Maybe I should get these ones under cover while there's still time. Or put a cover over the whole plant table - wouldn't insulate, but would at least keep the snow off.

My handyman did suggest an outdoor socket, running the cable round two walls to get it near my plant tables, which are in the far corner of one end of the garden: i really wanted a mini-waterfall to go with the mini-landscape I'm sort of planning bnut mostly just deraming of. The other plant table is against the fence directly opposite the back door, so a cable might go overhead, across and down, but need to check both before i make any decision. Of course, I could move the tables! but they're where I really want them.

*s* I bought a couple of metal arches (£5 at Lidl) a year before I moved here; hoped I'd have somewhere to use them eventually. Could put them up and run the cable along the top! but got no soil to bed them into, so they'd need to be well anchored, and any plants grown up them would have to be in plangers - lol I did think about only half-assembling them and leaning them against the wall over the back door, then covering them to give me a weatherproof porch!

sounds like you are really thinking about lots of different ideas Fran. I love that stage with any new project....ideas forming in your head, problems to solve...love it! enjoy! :)) Heucheras should be ok. Many of mine are struggling a bit but they will be fine in the summer....I hope!! H. 'Marmalade' is readily available and overwinters beautifully...it is a lovely colour, crinkly leaves, and planted out in my borders it doesn't look much different now than when I bought it in the summer time.

Woke up to some snow this morning, so a bit late to rescue any plants - either they'll survive or they won't. Might try securing some plastic sheeting over the tables as a roof.

lol the problem with ideas is too many of 'em! wavering this way and that, getting ever more fanciful and ornate. The problem with "anything's possible" is that nothing gets settled on! I need to pick one and go with it - while I'm faffing around building castles (gardens) in the air, nothing will actually get done.

:) Know what you mean....that's the trouble with anything creative....you could always do it differently! :)

and when I decide on something and actually start on it, about an hoiur later I get an "oh! what about ..." and get detoured.

trying to plan my tabletop mini-landcape, I've already detoured to hypertufa, and miniature water features, each of which detoured me further from the original topic!

Hmm...I suppose trick is to keep in mind what 'atmosphere' you want to achieve for yourself to enjoy for that precious hour and the others when it's more shady. Still, it is great fun planning (and playing) isn't it....and ideas always give me loads of energy when they come! :)) Take care Fran...you'll be dreaming hypertufa soon! :) Goodnight :) zzzzzzzzzzzz

*s*, so true! I'm "hyper" about it already