Butterfly Bush, Spirea and tricolor morning glory

Let me share with you some of the my favorite flowers today. These are Butterfly Bush, Spirea and tricolor morning glory all blooming on my rooftop right now. Let’s start with butterfly bush.

Butterfly bush with botanic name buddelia davidii is a flowering plant not very common in gardens around me. It does not like extreme heat and needs exceptional drainage. Soil must be amended with peat moss or leaf compost etc. It is susceptible to mites specially in hot and dry weather. I use Bayer Oberon for deterring mites which is effective. Like most butterfly bushes, it is also fragrant. It comes in many colors including pink, blue, purple, red, white, bicolor etc. It needs to be protected from afternoon sun in hot summers. It also needs protection from monsoon rains and requires very good drainage. The plant below, i grew from cuttings given to me. Enjoy the blooms.

I also grew another variety of buddleja which was buddleia asiatica the winter lilac. Winter lilac flowers only once in spring as compared to this summer flowering buddleia which flowers many times a year. It is easily propagated from cuttings.

There are few plants which have the capability to cover whole plant with flowers. Spirea is one of them. Spirea with common name Bridal Wreath is spring flowering plant although some varieties flowers in summer and come in many colors including pink. It is also one of those plants which do not tolerate high temperatures into 100 F. It needs excellent drainage and required protection from hot summer afternoons. It flowers in bunches and an established plant is totally covered in white flowers. Below plant i am growing in a clay pot. Mine is single flowering variety although a double one is also available. Belonging to the rose family, It is propagated from cuttings easily.

Last but not least is convolvulus tricolor ‘pink ensign’ with common name tricolor morning glory. It is not a vine but actually a trailing plant. It has beautiful tricolor flowers in shades of pink, red and yellow. Grown from seeds and i guess should be able to propagate by cuttings. I grew from seeds in fall. Its foliage attracted a lot of disease for me and it caught many insects. It does not tolerate hot afternoon sun so place it where only morning sun is available if temperature is high.

This post is included in Garden Bloggers Bloom day, a monthly online gardening event hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens