Buddleja × weyeriana 'Sungold'


Buddleja × weyeriana 'Sungold' is a cultivar which arose as a sport of 'Golden Glow' at the nursery of P. G. Zwijnenburg in the Netherlands during the 1960s. 'Sungold' was accorded the Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit in 1993, reaffirmed in 2010. A particularly floriferous specimen of 'Sungold' was introduced to the United States from Scotland by Mike Dirr in 1995, and propagated there as 'Honeycomb'; it later came top in the public poll of 57 Buddleja species and cultivars conducted by the University of Georgia in 1997.

Description

'Sungold' is a vigorous shrub growing to a height of if hard-pruned annually, bearing small panicles of rich golden-orange flowers, the panicles acute at the apex, further distinguishing the clone from 'Golden Glow'. Occasionally, near-white secondary panicles appear as sports near the end of the flowering season. The leaves are of average size for the hybrid, and mid-green in colour. The nectar of B. × weyeriana is relatively complex, comprising three constituents in almost equal proportions: sucrose, fructose, and glucose, whereas the nectar of the common Buddleja davidii is almost exclusively sucrose.
Ploidy: 2n = 76.

Cultivation

'Sungold' is widely cultivated across Europe and the United States. Hardiness: RHS H4, USDA zones 7-9.