It blooms all summer long and delights the hobby gardener's eye with its purple flower buds: the butterfly lilac is a real eye-catcher in the home garden. The attractive shrub is easy to care for, and propagation via seeds, cuttings or cuttings is also easy. We explain how you can propagate buddleia and what needs to be taken into account.
Multiply buddleia: What variants are there?
There are basically three ways you can propagate buddleia. You can grow butterfly lilac from seeds. Although this is actually the easiest option, there is no guarantee of success. The butterfly lilac germinates slowly and the young plants differ from the mother plant. The proliferation overCuttings in wateris therefore preferred by most hobby gardeners. It is also very easy and you are more likely to have a young plant next year.
This is how you can grow butterfly lilac from seeds
Propagation by sowing is extremely easy: in most cases, the shrub practically sows itself. You just have to give him the opportunity, which means not cutting off all the fruit capsules. Leave two or three standing, they will then open at the end of summer and release the seeds that are ready to harvest.
Sowing is not always successful and the daughter plant will be different from the mother plant. These differences vary depending on the variety. Buddleja alternifolia is the easiest to prefer. You can simply harvest the seeds in early mid-August to early September and let them dry on newspaper overnight. Store the seeds in airtight, opaque containers in a cool place in the house. After the permanent frost has passed in spring, you can grow the seeds in a propagation box and place them outdoors. Use nutrient-rich potting soil. Buddleia is a light germinator, so you should only cover the seeds lightly with potting soil. Water them regularly. The seeds germinate very slowly, so patience is required. After the young plants sprout and form at least one pair of leaves, you can plant them in the garden.
Propagate buddleia by cuttings in water
Late summer and autumn is the right time to propagate butterfly lilac from cuttings. The cuttings should be between 7.5 cm and 10 cm long and have no flowers.
Woody and soft, young, grass-green shoots are unsuitable. It's best to choose branches from the previous year - they can be identified by their dark green color.
Step-by-step instructions:
Cut the shoots at an angle because the larger the cutting surface, the faster the cuttings will form new roots. Use sharp secateurs for the cleanest possible cut without bruising.
Remove all leaves and fill glasses with lukewarm, decalcified tap water. Wrap a dark, non-transparent fabric or black foil around the glasses.
Apply some root activator to the cut surface of the cuttings and place them in water. Change the water three times a week and always add a pinch of root activator to the water. After two to three weeks you will notice the first fine roots. Then it is time to plant the cuttings in seed pots with a diameter of 10 cm.
Mix potting soil with coarse-grained building sand or clay and fill the substrate into the pots. Then you can plant the young plants.
The cuttings will growa sunny windowsillfeel good. Sunlight promotes growth, root formation and, above all, new shoots. If the cuttings produce new leaves within the next week, they can be planted in the garden after the permanent frost has ended.
Butterfly bush propagation via cuttings
Propagation using cuttings is actually very similar to the version using cuttings. However, there is an important difference: cuttings are placed without leaves in water glasses and develop their roots there. Cuttings retain a pair of leaves and are inserted directly into potting soil.
Step-by-step instructions:
Leave only one or two pairs of leaves at the top and cut off all the lower leaves. For the cultivation itself, you can use both cultivation pots and a cultivation box.
You can find special potting soil in garden centers, but you can also make it yourself. For this purpose, mix loose garden soil with organic compost and coarse-grained building sand in a ratio of 1: 1: 1. Line a baking tray with baking paper and bake the finished substrate at 140° Celsius for about an hour. Then you can fill them into the nursery pots.
Insert the cuttings into the pots, water them generously, tie the pots together and cover them with transparent packaging film.
Ventilate the pots or propagation box once a day and water them if necessary. The soil should always remain moist. If you notice new leaves after a few weeks or if the cuttings sprout again, then they have developed the root system.
Remove the protective film. The young shoots can spend the winter on the windowsill, in the greenhouse or winter garden and are not allowed into the garden until spring.
The butterfly lilac is a beautiful, magnificent oneflowering shrub. Propagation is incredibly easy. You can grow the buddleia through seeds, propagate it through cuttings in water or cut cuttings and plant them directly in nursery pots.
