Summer lilac (Buddleja) is so beautiful to look at during its flowering period that you can never have enough shrubs. For example, the shrub looks particularly impressive when not planted as a specimen plant. but plant in groups or as a hedge. But be careful: Buddleia tends to self-seed, which is why you will soon own an entire forest if you do not take appropriate measures.

Buddleia is best propagated from cuttings

Propagating summer lilacs by seed

The easiest way to propagate summer lilac is probably because of its tendency to self-seed. Basically, all you have to do is wait and see and dig up the small, sprouting plants in good time and plant them in the desired location. Of course, you can also collect the ripe seeds yourself and sow them in pots. This makes it easier to avoid wild growth, and you can also select the healthiest plants straight away.

Surprises are inevitable with Buddleja davidii

However, you should expect more or less big surprises with this form of propagation, at least with Buddleja davidii - the summer lilac also known as butterfly bush. This is especially true if you have different flowering varieties of a species in the garden. Plants grown by self-sowing are not of a single variety, i. H. they resemble the mother plant only in the rarest of cases. Instead, they often look similar to the wild form or form a cross between different varieties. With a bit of luck, you too will have a new variety of summer lilac.

How to propagate Buddleja alternifolia from seeds

The situation is different with the alternate or Chinese summer lilac (Buddleja alternifolia), which can be grown quite well from seed. And this is how you successfully grow young plants from seeds you have collected yourself:

  • Collect the mature seed pods in the fall.
  • You can recognize them by their brown-yellow color and the dried-up shell.
  • Strain out the seeds and place them in an airtight container.
  • Keep them in a dark, cool and dry place over the winter.
  • Sow them in March/April in pots filled with seed compost.
  • Keep the substrate moist and cover the pots with foil or something similar.
  • Prick the seedlings into individual pots in good time.

From around June you can finally put the self-grown young plants directly outdoors, but they should first get used to the sun slowly.

Classic: Propagation by cuttings

For a varietal propagation, however, you should better use the classic cuttings propagation. The best time to do this is in the summer months between June and July, although you can still be successful with cuttings cut up to mid/end of August. And that's how it works:

  • Do not choose too soft, flowerless shoots.
  • If long enough, cut them into several pieces about 10 to 15 centimeters long.
  • Already lignified shoots are not suitable for propagation by cuttings.
  • Leave two to three leaves per shoot.
  • The rest is clipped off at the bottom.
  • Halve the remaining leaves.
  • Put a mixture of 2 parts seed soil and 1 part sand in small (clay) pots.
  • Put one cutting in each pot.
  • Pour them on.
  • Put a cut PET bottle over it as an improvised greenhouse.
  • You can also stick long skewers into the ground and put a plastic bag over them.
  • Important: Both must be translucent.
  • Air daily and keep the substrate moist.

The improvised mini greenhouse can be removed as soon as new shoots appear. Then roots formed and propagation was successful. The young plants should be overwintered cool in the first winter, but frost-free and bright. The following year you can plant them outside.

Use clippings for cuttings

If there are any upcoming autumn pruning measures - for example Buddleja alternifolia is thinned out in autumn - you do not need to throw away parts of the clippings. Instead, some shoots can also be used for propagation. To do this, cut this year's woody shoots in late autumn, before the first frost. These should be about 20 to 25 centimeters long.

  • Cut the lower end at a slight angle, leaving the upper end straight.
  • In this way, you can later locate the correct end in each case.
  • Remove all leaves.
  • You can put the sticks in straight away.
  • To do this, prepare a suitable bed in a sheltered, light, partially shaded place.
  • Dig it up thoroughly and enrich the soil with humus or compost.
  • Push the sticks into the ground so far that only a quarter is still sticking out.
  • Keep them evenly moist.
  • In severe frost, the cuttings are covered with a fleece.
  • If you can't put the sticks in straight away, keep them in the fridge.
  • To do this, wrap them in a kitchen towel.
  • Then stick them in the designated place in March / April as described.

Trees planted in autumn often develop the first tender shoots in the following spring.

tips

Another method is the propagation of the summer lilac by sinkers, which works in principle like the propagation of cuttings. Except that the cuttings stay on the mother plant until they root.

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Herbs