|
|
Butterfly Food
Mum has a large Buddleia salvifolia in her back yard which flowers through the winter months attracting the over wintering Monarch Butterflies who sup on the nectar provided by the profusion of lavender coloured blossom. Buddleia trees are out of favour because of their reputation for self seeding and rightly so for the davidii hybrids because they have become a pesky weed in some areas of N.Z. But I have never seen a self sown Buddleia salvifolia seedling appear in Mums garden over the past 27 years she has been there. Indeed there have been plenty of other menacing natives that birds have kindly dropped.
Buddleia salvifolia is a South African species. It is commonly known as the sage leafed Buddleia because the coarsely textured leaves are grey and narrow just like the common sage .Around twenty years ago this Buddleia was offered for sale as hedging plants and was commonly grown as a primary shelter around farm houses .You can still see mature specimens flowering in country gardens as they are an enduring tough small growing tree .But I haven’t seen this tree offered for sale for years. This is such a pity as Buddleia salvifolia is an excellent coastal hardy tree. It naturally grows bushy without the need for trimming and will easily grow 3ms by 3ms eventually forming a small tree with a dense canopy. It tolerates drought , wind and neglect and will cheerfully produce sweetly fragrant flower to smother the tree from late summer to late spring. If you fancy this tree take cuttings from late spring to early autumn. Choose cuttings or sprouts that are vegetative, that is they are not carrying buds or flowers .Put these cuttings into pumice sand and place in a cool spot where you remember to water frequently. Within a few weeks they will have developed roots and you can then pot on into potting mix. Within six months from taking the cutting you should have a nice sturdy plant ready for planting out.
Another plant the Monarch butterflies like to dine on is Mums tree succulent Aeonium arborescens. This easily grown specimen comes from northern Africa and thrives in our coastal climate. It is one of those lovely poke in the ground plants that roots easily. You just break off a branch and poke it in the ground and it keeps on growing. So easy and so rewarding.
Aeonium arborescens produces stout branches up to 1 metre high which are topped by fleshy waxy rosettes of leaves. They are light green in colour and faintly edged with red. During winter long panicles of yellow flowers sprout from the tips of mature branches. These remain as a feature for months even after the flowers have withered and turned into seed heads. At some stage you do need to remove these branches as a feature of Aeoniums is that once a branch has produced a flower head it then proceeds to die. If by chance your cutting produces a flower before it has a chance to grow side branches, unless you remove the flower bud your succulent will only be an annual .Removal of the flower will result in new side growths.
This succulent tolerates frosts down to -4 degrees. It also grows and flourishes in all soils even poorly drained ones. In the harshest of conditions it will grow very compact and still reliably flower with those showy flower panicles.
A variant of the tree Aeonium, with gorgeous glossy purple black leaves but with the forgettable and difficult to spell name of Schwarzhopf, continues to be a favourite succulent plant. It is almost as hardy and tolerant as its green cousin though only tolerating frosts down to -2 degrees. This Aeonium is at its best grown hard. Drought and sun produce blacker coloured, though smaller sized leaves .A nursery trick of the trade for growing this succulent quickly is to water regulary and feed well and even give light shade through the hot summer months. Once the plant looks big and luxuriant bring out into full sun, stop feeding and reduce the watering . Shortly the large rosettes of leaves will turn a vibrant black.
Both of these succulents make excellent container subjects and allow you to take holidays without having the worry of coming home to dead plants.
|
|
|
|