The Buzz family has a new member called Candy Pink. This range of diminutive Buddleja, bred by Charles Valin at Thompson and Morgan, is growing at the rate of one per year and Candy Pink joins Buzzes Indigo, Red, Ivory, Sky Blue, Magenta and Lavender. The Buzz plants are not as small as some of the American hybrids,reaching about to 1.5 metres (4-5 foot) if pruned annually, but they perorm better in the UK climate than the competition.

Buzz Candy Pink will be available from Thompson & Morgan this spring and may be ordered now.

Photo courtesy of Thompson and Morgan.

Taxonomists, those that classify species, tend to be either "Lumpers", those that try to reduce families to as few species as they can justify, or "Splitters", those that will split very similar plants into separate species due to relatively minor differences. The generally accepted organisation of African and Asian Buddlejas was published by Leeuwenberg in 1979. He lumped a number of species into Buddleja crispa as he believed the differences were down to regional variation rather than speciation. Leeuwenberg didn't even afford those he sunk under B. crispa varietal names. So, for example, B. farreri became just another B.crispa rather than B.crispa var. farreri

In horticulture the old species names have continued to be used rather than more cumbersome names based on the accepted taxonomy. I written a page that aims to describe the group of plants:

The Buddleja crispa Complex

Right, the summer flowering "species" B. crispa.

This year the Buddleja Diary has a new look - rather than a monthly entry I will add stories, news and reports as they come along. The old format was a bit messy but the new look should be more straightforward. The photos will be a similar width and can be enlarged in a new overlaid window (by the magic of Lightbox). And it should all look the same in most browsers too. Navigation for the whole site and some useful links are down the left-hand column.

Here are a few antique prints to enjoy, click to enlarge them.

Buddleja globosa, the first of the genus in cultivation in Europe.

A very old French print, circa 1800.

Buddleja colvilei

Buddleja curviflora

Buddleja madagascarensis

Buddleja officinalis

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