GR wrote in message . ..
Following some excellent advice from this newsgroup back in the
spring, I hacked back my 12-foot-tall buddleia to about 3 feet.

It's now back at around 10 feet and the blooms have started, but I'm
rather disappointed in them. The flower spikes are not as thickly
covered in blooms as I'd like; typically, each spike will have a ring
of flowers, then a bit of bare stem, then some more flowers, and so on
out towards the tip. The flower covering improves out at the tip, but
nearer the body of the plant it's more like a "poodle cut" effect.

I really want to improve the density of the flowers on each spike, so
has anyone got any suggestions as to what I'm doing wrong? Is it
simply malnutrition? BTW, I don't know the precise species of
buddleia, but the flowers are a deep purple colour.

The really annoying thing is, I see buddleia growing wild and
completely untended that has thicker, denser blooms than mine!

Cheers,

Gareth

It is hardly likely to be malnutrition. I have just been out to deal
with one that is growing out of my roof! They will grow almost
anywhere.

I am wondering if it is the variety you have? Did you buy the bush?
It almost sounds as if it is a peculiar hybrid. The standard
buddleias are usually all varieties of B. davidii but there is a
hybrid with B. globosa (the orange Ball buddleia) called B. x
weyeriana that has a growth form something like you describe but it
has yellow flowers. There are some backcrosses which have been
developed in the USA.

Neil Jones- http://www.butterflyguy.com/
"At some point I had to stand up and be counted. Who speaks for the
butterflies?" Andrew Lees - The quotation on his memorial at Crymlyn
Bog National Nature Reserve