Buddleja crispa var. farreri
Highdown Gardens near Worthing, West Sussex.
An early season stroll on a rare sunny morning, following yet another night of heavy rain. The gardens was muddy in places, and areas of lawn were roped off to allow the grass to recover from the relentless waterlogging.
But the birds were singing their hearts out. Flowering cherries and Malus were bursting with bloom. Staphylea trees ... some tulips ... Euphorbias ... Primulas ... spring Cyclamen ... Leucojum. It won't be long before the ancient Cercis blooms ... it's covered in buds. And I will be interested to see how their Eremurus experiment does (still under fleece wraps) ... Eremurus can be tricky at the best of times.
Buddleja crispa, the Himalayan butterfly bush, is a deciduous shrub native to Afghanistan, Bhutan, North India, Nepal, Pakistan and China (Gansu, Sichuan, Tibetan Autonomous Region), where it grows on dry river beds, slopes with boulders, exposed cliffs, and in thickets, at elevations of 1400–4300 metres. It is not reliably winter-hardy, but it can thrive in a sheltered sunny spot.
Buddleja farreri is a xerophytic deciduous shrub endemic to Gansu, China, discovered by Reginald Farrer in 1915. Farrer described the shrub's habitat as "the very hottest and driest crevices, cliffs, walls and banks down the most arid and torrid aspects of the Ha Shin Fang". Farrer sent seed to the UK shortly afterwards, and it is from this consignment that all the British specimens have been derived.
Buddleja farreri was one of five species removed from being classified as Buddleja crispa by Leeuwenberg in 1979, however the original epithet is widely retained in horticulture. It seems to be slightly more hardy in British winters ... even if shoots are killed by severe frosts it will generally recover.
Buddleja crispa var. farreri
Highdown Gardens near Worthing, West Sussex.
An early season stroll on a rare sunny morning, following yet another night of heavy rain. The gardens was muddy in places, and areas of lawn were roped off to allow the grass to recover from the relentless waterlogging.
But the birds were singing their hearts out. Flowering cherries and Malus were bursting with bloom. Staphylea trees ... some tulips ... Euphorbias ... Primulas ... spring Cyclamen ... Leucojum. It won't be long before the ancient Cercis blooms ... it's covered in buds. And I will be interested to see how their Eremurus experiment does (still under fleece wraps) ... Eremurus can be tricky at the best of times.
Buddleja crispa, the Himalayan butterfly bush, is a deciduous shrub native to Afghanistan, Bhutan, North India, Nepal, Pakistan and China (Gansu, Sichuan, Tibetan Autonomous Region), where it grows on dry river beds, slopes with boulders, exposed cliffs, and in thickets, at elevations of 1400–4300 metres. It is not reliably winter-hardy, but it can thrive in a sheltered sunny spot.
Buddleja farreri is a xerophytic deciduous shrub endemic to Gansu, China, discovered by Reginald Farrer in 1915. Farrer described the shrub's habitat as "the very hottest and driest crevices, cliffs, walls and banks down the most arid and torrid aspects of the Ha Shin Fang". Farrer sent seed to the UK shortly afterwards, and it is from this consignment that all the British specimens have been derived.
Buddleja farreri was one of five species removed from being classified as Buddleja crispa by Leeuwenberg in 1979, however the original epithet is widely retained in horticulture. It seems to be slightly more hardy in British winters ... even if shoots are killed by severe frosts it will generally recover.