How To Grow And Care For A Butterfly Bush

Gardeners and butterflies alike will fall in love with this fragrant and colorful plant.

Gardeners aren't the only ones who love gardens. Butterflies do too, especially when you grow fragrant, nectar-rich butterfly bushes. These woody shrubs, sometimes called summer lilacs, have arching stems and long flower panicles. They're available in colors like pale pink, raspberry, light lavender, deep purple, magenta, cherry red, sky blue, icy white, and ivory. Like the butterflies themselves, butterfly bushes (Buddleia davidii, sometimes spelled Buddleja davidii) can also be orange, yellow, and bi-colored. Most are hardy in USDA Zones 5 to 9 or 10, where they can mature to 12 feet tall and 10 feet wide. Dwarf types that reach two to three feet tall are great for small spaces and containers. While some areas consider butterfly bushes invasive, non-invasive varieties are available. Learn how to care for these easy-to-grow beauties.

Plant Attributes

What to Know About Butterfly Bushes

There are a couple of things to know about butterfly bushes. While butterflies visit them to sip nectar, they're not a food source for caterpillars. Find out what kinds of butterflies are in your area, grow plants that their caterpillars will eat, and they're likely to hang around as they go through the different stages of their life cycles.

A butterfly weed (Asclepiadaceae, in the milkweed family) isn't the same as a butterfly bush, although butterflies are attracted to its bright orange flowers. While they attract butterflies, hummingbirds, and other pollinators, butterfly bushes resist deer, drought, and heat.

Also, butterfly bushes are considered invasive in some parts of the country. Check with your local extension service to be sure you can plant them in your area, or look for non-invasive or seedless types.

How to Care for a Butterfly Bush

Light

Give your butterfly bushes eight hours of full sun. Six hours will suffice, although you may not get as many flowers. Full sun produces strong stems, so tall plants won't need staking.

Soil

Choose a planting site with well-drained, moist soil with average fertility. Since these plants take a pH of 6.0 to 8.0, native soils are usually fine. Mix some good organic compost into clay soil to improve drainage, or add topsoil, peat moss, or compost to keep very sandy soil from draining too fast. Otherwise, amendments aren't usually necessary.

Dig a hole two or three times the diameter of the plant's root ball and place it in the hole no deeper than it was in its original pot. Backfill the hole and gently firm down the soil to remove any air pockets. Water thoroughly.

Mulch

To discourage weeds and hold in some moisture, mulch with a couple of inches of pine straw or shredded bark. Don't let the mulch touch the stems, which can cause rot.

Water

Butterfly bushes can tolerate some drought once they're established but need consistently moist soil. When you water, water deeply, but avoid overwatering.

Fertilize

These plants seldom need fertilizing if they're growing in soil mixed with organic compost. If they're not, give them a balanced granular fertilizer in the spring, following the label directions for how much to apply, and water thoroughly.

Types of Butterfly Bushes

As the butterfly bush is considered invasive in some areas, it may be necessary to choose native alternatives for your yard or seedless varieties. Popular non-invasive varieties of butterfly bush include:

• Buddleia Lo & Behold ‘Purple Haze’: This non-invasive dwarf variety is full of purple blooms all summer.

• Buddleia Lo & Behold ‘Pink Micro Chip’: This delightful bloomer tops out at 1.5 feet with showy pink flowers.

• Buddleja ‘Asian Moon’: A hybrid, non-invasive variety, this bush grows to a rounded form with purple blooms.

• Buddleja Lo & Behold ‘Ice Chip’: This dwarf shrub features white flowers and mounds low and wide, making it ideal for borders and ground cover.

When and Where to Plant a Butterfly Bush

Butterfly bushes do best when planted in early spring or summer, but when the temperatures are hotter keep them well-watered.

An island bed planted with a butterfly bush (or several) will help attract these lovely pollinators. Other places to use them include perennial beds and borders and cottage or wildlife gardens. Some have rangy, sprawling growth habits, so they don't make great specimen plants or focal points.

Butterfly Bushes in Containers

Like butterfly bushes in the ground, container-grown Buddleia needs moist, well-drained soil. Use a good-quality potting mix and a container with drainage holes. Choose a container eight to 10 inches wider than the plant's root ball so it can grow for a couple of years before it needs repotting.

How to Prune Butterfly Bushes

Prune in spring after new growth appears or anytime your plants get too tall or wide. Deadhead faded flowers as needed. Gardeners in northern climates sometimes cut their bushes to the ground in winter, although this can leave them susceptible to damage from the cold.

Propagating Butterfly Bushes

Invasive varieties of butterfly bush spread easily without propagation. Seedless varieties of butterfly bush cannot be propagated by seed. To propagate a non-patented variety of seedless butterfly bush, using stem cuttings from summer growth is the best method.

Here’s how:

1. Cut a four to six-inch segment from a healthy, sturdy new branch.

2. Remove the leaves from the bottom third of the branch cutting and dip it in a rooting hormone powder.

3. Plant in a small pot of moistened potting soil.

4. Cover the pot with a plastic bag to hold in moisture and place it in a sunny spot out of direct sunlight.

5. When roots develop in three to six weeks, transplant it to the garden or a larger container.

Common Problems with Butterfly Bushes

These tough plants are seldom bothered by pests or diseases but be ready to act if you spot a problem.

Rhizoctonia and phytophthora are fungal diseases that make leaves turn yellow and drop and lead to rotting stems and roots. To prevent them, don't overwater or let the soil stay waterlogged. There are fungicides labeled to control these fungi, but even treated plants can still die.

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