Butterfly bush

Does Buddleia grow true to type? How about Lantana and Crapemyrtle?

Z, I've only been able to get the regular light purple color ones. A friend will give me some of the yellow seed this winter when they are ready, but who knows what color they will be.
The seed is super tiny. If I want to get babies I don't prune them back until mid winter. In the spring I lightly cultivate the soul around the bush and don't touch it untill late May. By that time I can usually find the seedlings. It's important to scratch the soil to incorporate the seed into the soil to germinate.
Andy P

They come so easily from cuttings (OK wrong forum LOL) and will then be the same as the parent plant. Cut off a shoot that doesn't have flowers (sometimes hard to find) just below some leaves, 4"-6" long, take off the lower leaves to leave just a few at the top and put it in some damp gritty compost. Keep moist and warm and hey presto - roots :)
I've just popped a few of the yellow 'Honeycomb' in my cuttings frame.......

Philomel, I've done that here as well. Sometimes I use the cuttings as 'Pea Brush' or garden row markers. they often take root but I've never had them make it through a second winter, too cold around here I think.
Andy P

Oh, that's a shame. Yes, I've never gardened lower than zone 8......

My pink crepe myrtle comes true to type. Don't know if they all do. Do not cover seed and keep moist covered with a piece of saran wrap or other clear plastic, store in a shady area until they germinate. I leave them in pots until the are about a foot tall and then they go into the ground with water enough to keep them going until they start to grow again.

On the note of butterfly bushes, how do you know when the seeds are ready to be harvested? And how do you harvest them? I know of a butterfly bush that is going to be cut down to the ground this week and the seed snitch in me wants to get there first.

The seeds are the spent flower spray. It should be brown and crispy looking. The seeds are dust like particles, so most people just sow the whole thing and hope for the best. Do not cover these either. When I sowed my white ones (commercial seed) I just put them on top of potting soil in a pot. I wet it with the spray in the kitchen sink beforehand. After the seeds were on the soil I covered it with plastic wrap across the lip of the pot, not touching the soil so as not to prevent the seedlings from sprouting. I only got two good plants out of a packet, so sow thickly and thin out if they do germinate well. I did notice that my neighbors plant does not put out sterile seed. Don't know if this trait was bred into the plant or what. It has been there several years now and no seedlings ever grow. That is one reason I bought the seed. I think I got them from Johnnyseeds online.