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Buddleia Lochinch
Overview
Buddleia Lochinch is a stunning hybrid butterfly bush that stands out from the crowd with its distinctive silvery-grey foliage and unique pale purple flowers which fade to white in the centre with vibrant orange eyes. This elegant shrub combines the best traits of its parent species, offering exceptional garden performance with an unusual colour combination that creates a sophisticated focal point in any planting scheme. A magnet for butterflies and bees, it's perfect for gardeners seeking something a little different from the traditional purple buddleias.
Key Features
Distinctive Colouring: The most striking feature is its pale purple flowers which fade to white in the centre and have a vibrant orange eye which really sets them off, creating a beautiful effect that's quite unique among buddleias.
Silver-Grey Foliage: The narrow, lance-shaped leaves are covered in fine silvery hairs, giving the entire plant an attractive grey-green appearance that provides excellent contrast to the colourful blooms.
Robust Growth: A vigorous, upright shrub reaching 2-3 metres in height with a similar spread, making it ideal as a specimen plant or back-of-border feature.
Extended Flowering: Blooms continuously from July through to October, producing masses of pale purple flowers, providing months of stunning colour and nectar for visiting wildlife.
Exceptional Wildlife Value: The unusual flower colour attracts a wide variety of butterflies, bees, and other beneficial insects, making it a cornerstone plant for wildlife gardens.
Growing Requirements
Position and Soil
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Sunlight: Performs best in full sun but tolerates light shade
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Soil: Thrives in well-drained, moderately fertile soil
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pH: Adaptable to most soil conditions, from slightly acidic to alkaline
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Drainage: Essential - will not tolerate waterlogged conditions
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Exposure: Reasonably wind-tolerant once established
Planting and Spacing
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When to Plant: Potted butterfly bushes can be planted at any time of the year, providing the ground is not frozen or waterlogged and its not excessively windy.
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Spacing: Allow 2-2.5 metres between plants for optimal growth
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Container Growing: Suitable for very large containers (minimum 60cm diameter)
Care and Maintenance
Watering
Water regularly during the first year to help establish a strong root system. Once established, Lochinch is quite drought-tolerant but will benefit from occasional deep watering during extended dry periods, particularly when flowering.
Feeding
Apply a balanced, slow-release fertiliser in early spring. An annual mulch of well-rotted compost or manure around the base will help retain moisture and provide gentle nutrition throughout the growing season.
Pruning
Annual Pruning: Cut back hard in late February or early March, reducing all stems to 45-60cm from ground level. This encourages vigorous new growth and maximum flowering.
Deadheading: Regular removal of spent flower heads throughout the growing season will encourage continued blooming and prevent excessive self-seeding.
Light Pruning: In mild areas, you can opt for lighter pruning every other year, removing only one-third of the oldest stems to maintain a larger framework.
Winter Care
Fully hardy throughout most of the UK. In particularly exposed locations, young plants may benefit from a protective mulch around the base during their first winter.
Garden Uses
Specimen Planting: Makes an excellent standalone feature plant in lawns or large borders
Mixed Shrub Borders: Perfect as a backdrop plant in mixed plantings
Wildlife Gardens: Essential for butterfly and pollinator-friendly schemes
Prairie-Style Plantings: Complements ornamental grasses and naturalistic perennial plantings
Cut Flowers: Unusual blooms make striking, fragrant additions to flower arrangements
Screening: Can be used as an informal hedge or screen when planted in groups
Companion Planting
Creates beautiful combinations with:
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Silver and grey-leaved plants like Artemisia, Santolina, and Stachys byzantina
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Ornamental grasses such as Miscanthus, Calamagrostis, and Pennisetum
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Purple and blue perennials including Salvia, Nepeta, and Perovskia
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Complementary shrubs like Caryopteris and Ceratostigma
Seasonal Interest
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Spring: Attractive silvery-grey new foliage emerges
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Summer: Distinctive flowers with pale purple petals fading to white centres and vibrant orange eyes attract clouds of butterflies from July onwards
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Autumn: Continued flowering until first frost, with developing seed heads adding textural interest
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Winter: Architectural bare stems provide structure, particularly attractive when touched with frost
Special Characteristics
Hybrid Vigour: Buddleia Lochinch is a cross between Buddleja fallowiana and Buddleja davidii. It was first found in the 1940s as chance seedling in the garden of the Earl of Stair at Lochinch Castle, Wigtownshire, Scotland.
Distinctive Fragrance: The flowers carry a sweet, honey-like fragrance that's particularly noticeable on warm summer evenings.
Self-Seeding: Less aggressive at self-seeding than common B. davidii, making it more garden-friendly whilst still providing some natural regeneration.
Why Choose Lochinch?
This buddleia is perfect for gardeners who love the idea of attracting wildlife but want something more sophisticated than the common purple butterfly bush. Its unique colouring makes it a conversation starter, whilst the silvery foliage provides year-round interest even when not in flower. It's particularly valuable in contemporary garden designs where unusual colour combinations are prized.
The combination of easy care, exceptional wildlife value, and distinctive appearance makes Lochinch an outstanding choice for both novice and experienced gardeners looking to add something special to their planting scheme.
Quick Reference
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Hardiness: RHS H5 (fully hardy in most UK locations)
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Height: 2.5 metres
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Spread: 2.5 metres
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Flower Colour: Pale purple fading to white centres with vibrant orange eyes
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Foliage: Silvery grey-green
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Flowering Period: July to October
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Aspect: Full sun to light shade
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Soil: Well-drained, moderately fertile
Buying Shrubs from Jacksons Nurseries
At Jacksons Nurseries we sell a variety of shrubs both evergreen and deciduous with a variety of flowering times throughout the year. At certain times of the year our shrubs you buy from us may not look like the images shown on our website when deciduous leaves have fallen, the shrub has finished flowering or has been trimmed back.
Some leaves on evergreen shrubs can be damaged in winter by frost or harsh winds but in spring new leaves will readily replace those damaged. This is quite normal on many evergreen varieties and is preferable to plants grown with excessive protection that show cold shock once planted out and establish less satisfactory initially.
Availability: Stock availability figures are provided as a guide only. There is a delay between orders being placed and the plants being gathered by our pulling team. During this time it may be possible for a member of the public to purchase these plants from our Garden Centre, while this is rare it is a possibility and we will notify you of any problems as soon as possible. This figure may also include plants that have not yet be flagged as unsaleable.
Pre-order: Pre-order times are given as a guide only and may vary dependent on the growing season. Orders containing Pre-ordered products will be shipped as a single order when all items become available. Large orders may be part shipped, please contact us on 01782 502741 or email sales@jacksonsnurseries.co.uk.
* Please Note: Shrubs in 20 litre pots and above might require a pallet delivery starting at £79.99 per pallet. Depending on the exact pot size and height it may be possible to get approximately 5 plants per pallet at no extra cost. The maximum height we can dispatch on a pallet is 2.0m, this includes the height of the pallet and pot.
Shrubs are deciduous or evergreen woody plants, and often provide fragrant flowers, berries and foliage. They are good for structural framework, and they can provide a wonderful shelter and food source for wildlife.
Planting and Conditions
Container grown shrubs can be grown at any time of year. It is a little known fact that shrubs planted in the autumn and winter will be easier to look after than those planted in the spring and summer, because they will have time to establish and become hardy in the cooler months.
Plant the shrub at the same depth as it was in its original pot. Planting too deeply can result in root and stem rot.
One of the biggest causes of death in new shrubs is drought stress, so keep it well watered until it’s established.
Make sure you loosen the soil prior to planting. Most shrubs are tolerant of most soil types as long as it is fairly well draining.
Most shrubs will grow happily in containers, but they will be much more demanding on feeding and watering than shrubs in the ground would be. They will also need potting on every couple of years so that they don’t suffocate or become stunted in their pot.
Aftercare and Pruning
Once established, shrubs generally do not require much water. However, at first they need careful, frequent watering and should not be left to dry out.
Shrubs in the ground are generally not demanding and in most cases, annual feeding with general purpose fertilizer will suffice. Shrubs in containers may need more feeding; usually from early spring until late summer.
Shrubs also benefit from mulching in order to supress weeds, conserve moisture and provide vital nutrients. Mulch also greatly improves soil conditions. Shrubs can be mulched in late winter, after fertiliser has been applied, but it can be mulched through autumn to late spring as long as the ground is damp.
All shrubs benefit from dead-heading once spent flowers become apparent. Rhododendrons and Lilac especially benefit from the removal of dead flowers.
Some shrubs may show signs of reverted growth or ‘sporting’. This is where random shoots of different leaves associated with the plant’s parentage begin to appear. Most commonly this is where plants with variegated leaves sprout pure green growths instead of variegated ones.
To control reversion, remove reverted shoots promptly to discourage them. Reverted shoots are usually much more vigorous than the variegated ones, and thus should be completely pruned out and cut back into wood containing variegated foliage.
Potential Issues
Although shrubs are usually very robust garden plants, they can sometimes start to decline with no apparent or obvious reason.
This will start with browning leaves, which could indicate plant stress due to lack of water or waterlogging, an establishment failure or, in the worst case scenario, honey fungus. Another cause of leaf browning is a high salt content in the soil. This could be a natural occurrence, especially if you live near the ocean, or it could be from over fertilisation.
To remedy a high salt content, cut back on fertiliser and step up your watering regime for the next few weeks. If you live by the ocean, this will be harder to remedy—but stepping up your watering will help to wash some of the salt away all the same.
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