Advice on planting a Buddleia plug

Katiehound

yes, if you don't prune it eventually the woody trunk gets brittle and it will snap.
 I try to cut all that years growth back to the trunk.

I probably wouldn't be quite so viscous in the very first year but certainly once it is an established plant

RainbowsInTheSpray

Interesting replies everyone.. my thanks. For those who have voiced the 'triffid' concerns, yes, I am aware of this but also still hurting from my six previous and futile attempts to establish a buddleia in my heavy clay (while we're talking of 'viscosity') back garden. They just give up and die, generally.

Hope springs eternal...

ArbitraryRandom

RainbowsInTheSpray said:

Interesting replies everyone.. my thanks. For those who have voiced the 'triffid' concerns, yes, I am aware of this but also still hurting from my six previous and futile attempts to establish a buddleia in my heavy clay (while we're talking of 'viscosity') back garden. They just give up and die, generally.

Hope springs eternal...

Are you planting them all in the same area of the garden? 

I only ask, as they can be susceptible to a soil borne fungus which eats their roots - could be that you want to consider treating the area with a fungicide before planting again.  

Or if it's just a case of clay soil and poor drainage, then you could buy a sack of grit and spend a bit of time digging it in as deep as you can be bothered to improve things  

RainbowsInTheSpray

I'm just wondering whether it is simply waterlogging in the soil. Our soil alternates between being rock hard with cracks in it summertime and a sticky morass.in the winter. I know others locally have the same problem. It's vexing to see the wild self-sown jobs thrive, as others have said, just about anywhere!

RAS

Try the recent  (28 July) Guardian article on hardcore gardening and follow up the links to other sites. 

Remember, buddleia grows happily in the cracks in building walls, and on railway sidings, rather than in fields.

Katiehound

i was going to suggest digging a bucket sized hole and filling it with stones, gravel even hard core and then mix some decent compost near the top ready for planting. I think once your plug is well established it should keep growing. Clay is cold and wet, very different. (But roses love clay....)

I noted too that the bog standard buddleia grows in places with pretty much no compost- there are dozens in the gutters round here growing on a few dead leaves. The neighbours even had one growing in the mortar half way up the side of the house! Clearly these plants like dry