Buddleja Lo & Behold 'Blue Chip'

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Buddleja hybrid
Buddleja 'Blue Chip'.jpg
'Blue Chip' at Longstock Park in Hampshire, England (August 2012)
Cultivar'Blue Chip'
OriginJ C Raulston Arboretum, Raleigh, NC, USA.

Buddleja 'Blue Chip' (Lo & Behold series), which Dennis Werner and Layne Snelling raised at the JC Raulston Arboretum at North Carolina State University (NCSU), is the world's first dwarf Buddleja. The cultivar is the result of the complex hybrid B. weyeriana 'Honeycomb' × (B. davidii Nanho Purple × B. lindleyana).[1][2] NCSU released the cultivar to commerce in 2007.[1] NCSU received United States plant patent number USPP19991P3 for 'Blue Chip' in 2009.[2] The public voted the plant to be the second most attractive cultivar of the 97 on display in the Buddleja cultivar Euro-trial that the Royal Horticultural Society conducted at RHS Garden Wisley in Surrey, England, during 2008.[3]

Description[]

A 'Blue Chip' inflorescence with insect pollinators at Longstock Park in Hampshire, England (August 2012)

'Blue Chip' grows moderately quickly to a height of 1.0 ft (0.3 m) to 2.5 ft (0.8 m) and a width of 1.0 ft (0.3 m) to 2.5 ft (0.8 m), forming a dense, rounded structure including numerous lateral branches.[1][2][4] The inflorescences are small terminal 8 cm (3.1 in)-long panicles that are very dense and shortened as compared to typical Buddlejas.[2][4] Each pannicle holds an average of 198 fragant blue flowers, each of whose length is 12 mm (0.5 in) and whose diameter is 6 mm (0.2 in) at its apex.

The flower tapers to 1 mm (0.04 in) at its base. Its tubular corolla has an orange inside surface, giving the violet-blue flower an orange-yellow dot in its center.[2][4] The plant's deciduous elliptical leaves average 9.5 cm (3.7 in) in length and 3.6 cm (1.4 in) in width at maturity and are green above and greyed-green below.[2]

Werner and Snelling's publication on the plant stated that, because of its compact, spreading growth habit, ‘Blue Chip’ is appropriate for use in the front of mixed plantings or for mass plantings. The publication also stated that, similar to most Buddleja, the plant "attracts butterflies in abundance".[1] University studies have suggested that nectaring butterflies have greater preferences for some Buddleja cultivators than for others, with Lo and Behold 'Blue Chip' heading a list of eleven.[5] The cultivar's flowers also attact hummingbirds and other pollinators.[4]

Flowering begins in mid-May in Raleigh, North Carolina, and continues throughout the growing season.[1] In regions where above-ground shoots survive over winter, pruning to the ground in late winter will produce more vigorous growth in the spring, give the plant a better shape, and produce more flowers. Deadheading encourages additional blooms but is not otherwise necessary.[4]

The flower's anthers are malformed or lacking and produce little to no viable pollen, thus making the plant effectively male sterile.[1][2][4] In a field setting surrounded by numerous fertile cultivars, ‘Blue Chip’ produced few fruit and seed set was extremely low. As these produced only minimal numbers of seedlings, the plant has low female fertility.[1][2][4] Because the cultivar is non-invasive, the governments of the northwestern U.S. states of Oregon and Washington have approved it for sale within their jurisdictions, unlike their bans on B. davidii.[4][6]

Cultivation[]

Proven Winners North America LLC of DeKalb, Illinois, markets 'Blue Chip' within the United States.[7] The plant has been introduced to the National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens (NCCPG)'s National Plant Collection at the Longstock Park Nursery near Stockbridge, Hampshire, England.[8]

Hardiness: USDA zones 5 - 9.[4]

See also[]

Non-invasive Buddleja cultivars

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Werner, Dennis J.; Snelling, Layne K. (2009). "'Blue Chip' and 'Miss Ruby'". HortScience. Alexandria, Virginia: American Society for Horticultural Science. 44 (3): 841–842. doi:10.21273/HORTSCI.44.3.841. ISSN 2327-9834. LCCN 85644626. OCLC 768085913. Archived from the original on August 10, 2010. Retrieved August 10, 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h "Buddleja plant named 'Blue Chip'". Google Patents. USPP19991P3. Archived from the original on August 7, 2021. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
  3. ^ (1) The Royal Horticultural Society Garden Trials Office (2010). "Trials Report 2008-2010: Buddleja davidii and its close hybrids: An Invited RHS Woody Plant Trial and Eurotrial" (PDF). Wisley, Woking, Surrey, England: RHS Garden Wisley. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 12, 2021. Retrieved August 10, 2021.
    (2) Rice, Graham (December 10, 2009). "Buddleja – visitor voting and butterfly count". My Garden. London: Royal Horticultural Society. Archived from the original (blog) on January 25, 2018.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Buddleja Lo & Behold® 'Blue Chip'". Raleigh, North Carolina: North Carolina State University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences: North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service. Archived from the original on August 11, 2021. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
  5. ^ "Buddleia" (PDF). New Brunswick, New Jersey: New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station: Rutgers Office of Continuing Education. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 15, 2021. Retrieved August 15, 2021.
  6. ^ (1) "Butterfly Bush Approved Cultivars". Oregon Department of Agriculture. Archived from the original on October 7, 2015. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
    (2) "Butterfly Bush: Buddleja davidii". Olympia, Washington: Washington State Noxious Weed Control Board. Archived from the original on July 18, 2021. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
  7. ^ "Lo & Behold® 'Blue Chip' Butterfly Bush: Buddleia x". DeKalb, Illinois: Proven Winners North America LLC. 2021. Archived from the original on January 26, 2021. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  8. ^ "Lo and Behold® Blue Chip". Hardy Hybrids. Longstock, Hampshire, England: Longstock Park Nursery: National Plant Collection: The Buddleia National Collection. 2016. Accession Number B185. Archived from the original on January 21, 2021. Retrieved August 9, 2021.


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