[Fwd: Re: Buddlejas, invasive and not]

Oope I sent this reply to Moira when it should have gone to the list

-------- Original Message --------

There are buddleias grown round here (Marlborough in the top of the South Island of New Zealand). B.davidii grows wild around the Marlborough Sounds region. I have seen one variety that forms magnificant specimens like a fountain with pale flower in late winter. I think I've correctly identified it as B. Asiatica. I work on the Woodbourne Airforce bas and there is a large specimen there with a clump about 5 foot across at the base around 20 foot high and 25 foot in diameter. I tried taking a cutting but didn't succeed in geting it to grow!! There's another one in a section along the road from me that's a similar size. I saw some Buddleias on a garden trek up a country valley well into the hills as well.
Tony and Moira Ryan wrote:

Susannah wrote:

Buddleja davidii has begun to invade wild areas here in the Pacific
Northwest of the U.S., and we are asked not to plant it. I realize there
are quite a few other Buddleja species available in the trade, and would
love to try them -- but not if they seem likely to create similar problems.
Anyone care to share local experiences? Which species have you grown,
have they reseeded in your garden, are any species other than B davidii
common in gardens in your area?

Susannah
Although I am not a local, I thought you might anyway be interested to
hear the New Zealand experience with this species.

In NZ B.davidii has escaped from cultivation so thoroughly it is now
classed as a National Surveillance Plant Pest, which means it can no
longer legally be propagated, distributed or offered for sale in this
country, though specimens doubtless still persist in old gardens. I have
myself seen evidence of its agressiveness in the wild, where in some
places locally it has entirely displaced valuable native plants,
particularly the tree Fuchsia.

My source of information on its status is Common weeds of New Zealand
(NZ Plant Protction Society) which also mentions four other Buddleja
species as occasionally found naturalized, but gives no specific names
apart from B.globosa which is sometimes found in remnant forest near the
sites of old habitations.
It would appear that B davidii is the only species so far posing any
serious threat, but I guess this may change in time. Pehaps if one was
planting other species it might be wise to cut off their inflorecences
before they can ripen their seeds.

According to Botanica several other species of Buddleja are sometimes
grown in NZ gardens, but the only ones I am at all familar with are B
globosa and B. salvifolia. However I think they must be out of fashion
now as I have not even seen these in recent years.

Moira













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