Buddleia Shrub

If you are trying to attract butterflies to your garden (not to mention bees and hummingbirds!) you can’t go wrong with the Buddleia, appropriately called The Butterfly Bush. Butterflies simply can’t stay away.

Buddleias are easy to grow, come in a variety of beautiful vibrant colors and make a great addition to an already-established butterfly garden or as one of your central plantings in a new one. In a matter of weeks, you will be enjoying the sight of butterflies, bees, hummingbirds and other nectar-feeding insects in your garden.

The Butterfly bush is a deciduous shrub that has a weeping shape and can grow to an average of 6-12 feet tall and 4-15 feet wide. In mild winters it is semi-evergreen. The stems of this bush are long and arching and the leaves are grayish green in color. The flowers that are so attractive to butterflies (and other nectar-feeding insects) are long and cone-shaped. Their weight often causes them to arch and droop, especially after a rainfall. The flowers appear in early spring and last until the first frost in the fall; they are tiny but massed together and often highly fragrant.  You will have a large variety of colors to choose from, including pink, purple, white and red. Most have an orange throat. If you prefer a tidier look to your garden than most traditional Buddleia’s offer, there are compact varieties available including Nanho White and Nanho Purple, among others.

There are over 100 varieties and cultivars available in the Buddleia family. Some of the available varieties include: African Queen; which has dark purple flowers, Dartmoor; which has purple-pink clusters, asiatica; which has huge leaves and white flowers,  Nano White and Nanho Purple; which are compact varieties, or Opera; which has pink flowers that get as long as 2 feet!

Butterfly bushes are hardy in USDA Zones 5-10. In colder climates they die to the ground in the winter; in warmer ones, they are semi-evergreen. They are generally disease and pest-free, but can be susceptible to spider mites when under environmental stress.  This is easily remedied by spraying the plant with soapy water. Buddleia should be planted in full to part sun and well-drained, average soil conditions. Once they are established they prefer drier soil conditions; in fact, chronically wet soil can cause their roots to rot.   Prune varieties that flower on old wood right after blooming, those that don’t, in the winter or early spring. Pruning all plants in the fall will help maintain shape and remove old unattractive stalks for a fresh spring growth.

Note: One word of caution: Buddleia bushes are opportunistic plants that can grow rather aggressively and produce lots of seedlings. To prevent invasiveness the new seedlings will need to be plucked out. Other than that, Buddleia should make a welcome, low-maintenance  and attractive addition to your butterfly garden!