Reference specimenAccession  o82320162

Rostrinucula dependens

Weeping Buddleia

At a glance
Type
Shrub
Hardiness
USDA Zones 7–10
Sun
Full Sun, Part Shade
Soil
Well-drained, Moist
Mature size
Height 4–6 Feet · Spread 4–6 Feet
Growth rate
Fast
Seasonality
Deciduous
A plant Woodlanders once offered on our catalogue

This variety is no actively in production in our propagation house and may not return to our catalogue. We maintain this page purely for reference and archival purposes. If you would like to grow this plant, tell us. Your interest helps guide what we bring back.

For a larger installation or commercial project, write hello@woodlanders.net.

Rostrinucula dependens is a graceful oddity, a deciduous shrub from the hill country of central and southern China that looks, at a glance, like a butterfly bush that has learned to weep. The long, arching stems bow under their own weight, and in late summer they hang out slender, drooping catkins of bloom that give the plant the common name Weeping Buddleia, though the true kinship lies with the mints. Still rare in cultivation and only recently brought into Western gardens, the shrub remains a plant for the curious and the collector.

Despite the buddleia look, Rostrinucula belongs to the mint family, the Lamiaceae, and carries the aromatic foliage of that tribe. The genus name derives from the Latin for a small beak, a nod to the tiny beaked bracts along the flowering stalk, while the species epithet dependens simply means hanging down, for the weeping racemes that are the whole point of the plant. The nodding flower spikes, silvery in bud and opening pinkish purple, can stretch six inches to more than a foot, swaying at the branch tips like slow pendulums.

In the garden, Rostrinucula asks for a spot where the weeping habit can be seen in full, at the top of a low wall or a bank, at the back of a sunny border, or as a light, see-through specimen where the arching stems can spill without being crowded. The late-summer-into-autumn bloom arrives when much of the border has tired, and the small flowers draw bees and butterflies in the manner of the true buddleias. Give full sun to light shade and moist, well-drained soil, and pair the shrub with late salvias, asters, and grasses that share the season and set off the soft, dangling spikes.

Hardy through roughly USDA zones 7 to 10, Rostrinucula behaves as a dieback plant at the colder edge of the range, where hard frost cuts the top growth to the ground and the shrub returns from the root in spring to bloom on the new wood, much as a butterfly bush does. Mulch the crown where winters bite, cut the old stems back in late winter, and give room for the fresh growth to arch and weep again. For the gardener who enjoys a plant that stops visitors mid-path and invites the question, the Weeping Buddleia is a quietly astonishing thing.

Design Notes

A weeping curiosity for the top of a low wall or bank, the back of a sunny border, or a light, see-through specimen spot where the arching stems can spill uncrowded. Rostrinucula blooms in late summer and fall, when much of the border has tired, so pair the shrub with late salvias, asters, and grasses. Give full sun to light shade and moist, well-drained soil. At the cold edge of the range the plant dies back and returns from the root, blooming on new wood, so cut the old stems in late winter and mulch the crown.

Flower, Fruit & Foliage

Pinkish purple, silvery in bud, in weeping racemes

Flower. Slender, nodding racemes of tiny pinkish purple flowers, silvery in bud, hang six inches to more than a foot from the branch tips in late summer and early autumn, drawing bees and butterflies.

Foliage. Oblong to elliptic, softly toothed, mid green leaves are faintly aromatic in the manner of the mint family, and drop cleanly in fall.

Habit. Long, arching, weeping stems form a fountain-shaped deciduous shrub to four to six feet tall and as wide, bowing under the weight of the flowering catkins.

Care

Light. Full sun to light shade.

Soil. Moist but well-drained, ordinary garden soil.

Water. Average; steady moisture suits the plant best, though the roots dislike standing wet.

Pruning. Cut the old stems back in late winter, since bloom comes on new wood; the shrub often dies to the ground at the colder edge and regrows to flower the same year.

Hardiness. Roughly USDA zones 7 to 10; mulch the crown where hard freezes are likely and treat as a dieback shrub.