Buckthorn

[jellyang]

I would like to plant some Buckthorn to encourage Brimstones to my garden, as it is one species that I see very few of.
What I need to know is how easy it is to manage this plant?? Will I be able to keep it at a managable height or will it take over my garden?
I love tree's but am not fond of very large ones that block all my light.

Any advice appreciated.



Angie

[Susie]

I can only go on my own experience with alder buckthorn but so far it is good. After three years I have a tall slender tree which has attractive leaves that turn a lovely shade of yellow in the autumn and tiny flowers in the summer which attract bees. The foliage isn't too dense and i grow other plants around it without them being shaded out.

It may need to be trimmed back in time but that hasnt happened yet. And yes, it has atttracted brimsonte.

[Jack Harrison]

I have a Common Buckthorn about 18 years old. It attracted Brimstones to lay when it was small, ie less than about 150 cms tall. But it eventually reached about 4 metres, was no longer attractive, and so was cut back hard. It re-grew fine from the old wood but still no Brimstones (last year –too early this year to know one way or the other). In the wild I have found Brimstones eggs on quite small bushes of a mere 50 cms tall.

This seems to be a good source. Very cheap.
http://www.hedgenursery.co.uk/browse/co ... rtica-386/

Jack

[George]

Hi,

Just to add my experience of this - about 3 years ago I bought 2 Buckthorn bushes, one from local nursery and one from Naturescape. Both grew well and in the first year I ended up with 23 Brimstone larvae. Never saw any Brimstone butterflies and never spotted the ova but the larvae were certainly there and produced butterflies.

The second year - same story but more larvae (35) - really looking forward to this year. I suspect that mine will be the only Buckthorn around so how do the butterflies find it!!

[Cotswold Cockney]

In the spring up until early June, both sexes of the Brimstone are incessant strong flying wanderers. They get almost everywhere being one of the most long lived of our Butterflies ~ up to ten or more months when conditions allow. You may never see one in your garden but, the females will pass through. They have an uncanny knack of finding their foodplant and over the years, I've watched the females in May incessantly checking all likely looking shrubs for their eggs, quickly moving on when drawing a blank.

Over the years, one of my other main interests is Motor Racing. Cannot remember the exact date, in my kitchen making a cuppa, whilst watching the Monaco GP on TV back in I think May 1992, I was enjoying Mansell and Senna in that GP when out of the corner of my eye, saw a female Brimstone flying against the outside of my greenhouse where I had a two metre high potted Alder Buckthorn ~ grown from a cutting I'd taken a couple of years previously. I captured the female and allowed her access to the plant and she laid about three dozen ova before I released her. She flew away strongly. I raised 30+ butterflies simply allowing the larvae to feed up on the plant.

It's always a joy to see the first Brimstone in late winter/early spring each year. Sometimes a sunny day in early February will bring then out. Been a good year for them locally (Glos) with many sightings ~ no females seen though. I did see one checking the shrubs in my garden on a sunny day in May last year ... 2009. Plenty of Holly Blues through the garden recently ~ all males looking for females.
...

[Steve W]

I bought an Alder Buckthorn a couple of years ago. It is planted in a container and is only about 8 foot tall. Last year there were a couple of Brimstome caterpillars on it. Both disappeared I presume taken by birds. This year I watched a female Brimstone laying about a dozen eggs.

[Julian]

Hi Angie

I shouldn't worry too much about Alder Buckthorn outgrowing you because it is in fact a shrub. They will grow up to 15 ft -ish but it takes a long, long time. They are ususally outcompeted by other vegetation, or grazed before they can get that high...

In hedgerows, Hawthorn and Hazel for instance often really romp away when planted alongside Alder Buckthorn, often leaving it behind. I have a couple of older bushes or shrubs in my garden which I allow to grow to 15- ft but then I coppice or lop them down to size. They take a good ten years to grow so tall! To start off with and in gardens where one has good access, it is (in my opinion) advisable to look after any new bushes, using a mulch and weed suppressant which will help keep moisture around the roots at the same time as cutting down on competition. You can prune it as you go but watch out for Brimstone ova or larvae. You are very likely to have them pay you a visit if there are other bushes and Brimstones in the area. Since the Alder variety has no thorns it is really easy to manage with a light pruning saw and secateurs and can easily be pruned to and maintained at about a 4 -6 foot height if required(or smaller), but even this may take time and is dependent on them being provided with good growing conditions. AB likes damp and peaty soils, often the type found in wet areas alongside streams or in woodlands. They are a beautiful bush in their own right, quite dainty if allowed to grow up as a standard although some can take on a more sprawling or weedy habit otherwise. The black berries are eaten by birds in Winter. A sunny position is best but not imperative.

Common ( Purging) Buckthorn is quite different in habit although still really a shrub or bush. It of course has the thorns from which it gets the name 'Buck Thorn'. I guess they resemble Roebuck antlers, and also grows into a beautiful and also stock - proof shrub. Much, much denser in form than the Alder B and because of the thorns, a little, just a little more difficult to prune etc, but not difficult per se. What I like about it are those thorns and the great masses of berries you get on the female bushes. Yes, there are both male and female types (the plant is dioecious) and you need one of each to get berries. At least that's what I was told! I also plant it in the parks around here to help create impenetrable thickets, hopefully useful as protective cover and understory for Nightingales and other birds, as well as of course providing nectar for myriad bees and hoverflies, and also food for Brimstone Butterfly caterpillars....One thing for sure and widely known: female Brimstones travel miles to find either variety of Buckthorn and are very good at this. This year for instance Matt (Rodosranger) and I planted some in the middle of a woodland and today we discovered a dozen eggs, not six weeks after planting then.. The butterflies had flown in from elsewhere in the borough and found the bushes.

They really are great ambassadors for wildlife gardening since they are so successful in achieving the aims and people never fail to get excited about the female Brimstones laying their eggs on them. Don't be afraid to take them on. They are EASY.

Hope this helps if you are not already sorted out.

Julian

[Matsukaze]

Does anyone know what the strange yellowish blemishes on the leaves of my buckthorn bush are?

[Susie]

Some kind of gall?

[Julian]

Still have egg-laying female in garden on both Alder and Common Buckthorn. Anyone else still experiencing this?

[JohnR]

I see that I photographed one feeding, on 8th August.

Brimstone.JPG (122.82 KiB) Viewed 1381 times

[Dave McCormick]

Brimstones are presumed extinct here in Northern Ireland with a few reported in most years but no one really knows where they come from. I am going to plant some purging buckthorn on the off chance a yellow flutter will pass by and see it. How far can brimstones travel?

Matsukaze, I am not sure what the yellow spots are, but similar yellow spots on leaves may be to do with the plant being deprived of nutrients. Make sure its not over watered and try fertilizer on the plants roots, a deficiency in nitrogen can cause yellow spots on leaves.

[Julian]

Dave
I suspect Brimstones can travel a long way, indeed females are found flying far from known bushes, presumably to seek out new spots to lay their eggs. You obviously are aware of this. To give a precise figure of a theoretical maximum would be folly but I would say (and from personal experience) they can travel at least ten miles from one site to another. I wouldn't give up hope at all, indeed your suggestion is a good one. I am sure they will fly in from the Republic eventually, even if they have died off north of the border.
Julian

[Dave McCormick]

Thanks Julian. Found out that Purging Buckthorn (only native buckthorn to Ireland) is only found at Lough Erne in Fermanagh, probably why the brimstone is so rare here, its foodplant is also. I'll find out more about it as most years they are found in small numbers of one or two in some places. Map here of where they exist in Ireland: http://www.butterflyireland.com/2009_B.htm

[Julian]

Well at least they are there Dave.
Keep us posted on how it goes..

Julian