Buddleia

Garden Problems

Buddleia grows quickly, and forms self-replacing thickets. Buddleia is extremely versatile, tolerating a wide range of (especially poor) soils, hot to cold, wet to moderately dry conditions, deep shade or open areas, damage, and wind.

Identify the problem
Buddleia is a deciduous multi-stemmed shrub up to 3 metres tall. Stems are bluntly angled, clad in tufts of easily-removed soft woolly hairs. It has thin leaves which are usually hairless above, white or hairy grey underneath, and finely toothed. Flowers are dense, cone-shaped hanging clusters made up of many fragrant purple or white flowers with orange insides are produced from December to February.
Buddleia is one of the Dirty Dozen in New Zealand's War on Weeds.
How to solve the problem
Options:
- Spray (summer-autumn, before leaves become brittle) with Weed Weapon Extra Strength with Dye & Stick, or Rapid Action, ensuring complete coverage.
- Cut down and paint stumps with Weed Weapon Invade Gel or Stump Stop Gel.
- For small patches dig out and dispose of root crowns and rhizomes at a refuse transfer station.
Did you know?
- The Latin name for Buddleia weed is Buddleja davidii.
- The Buddleia leaf weevil is a biological control agent released in New Zealand in 2006 to help control Buddleia spread as biodiversity weed. It will attack Buddleia in gardens.