The butterfly bush is among the beautiful Chinese shrubs now growing in our gardens. The Orange-eye Butterfly bush, Buddleia davidii is the most common of the Buddleias. The buddleia was named for English Botanist Adam Buddle.
Buddleia plants are compact in growth, often as tall as 8′ feet. The wood is not very hardy so that in most northern gardens the plants almost die to the soil each year.
The flowers of the Buddleia tree are lilac with an orange-yellow throat; they are produced in terminal clusters (panicles) 6″ to 12″ inches long.
Such a profusion of these fragrant flowers is produced that it is doubtful whether any other shrub blooms so abundantly and over so long a period, the season of bloom extending as it does from July until late Autumn.
The leaves are long and rather narrow, closely toothed and gray beneath. The twigs are apt to be four-ridged and somewhat hairy.
There are a number of varieties of Buddleia davidii which are quite similar.
Var. magnifica is generally considered the best of all. The panicles are dense, the flowers are large, violet-purple with a deep orange eye, and the petals’ margins are somewhat rolled.
Var. superba is similar to the first but with larger panicles and the margins of the petals are not rolled.
Var. veitchi is more robust than the type, erect at first, later with gracefully arching branches and denser and larger, panicles of mauve colored flowers with an orange eye; the first to bloom.
Var. wilsoni is tall and arching with longer, narrower leaves and looser, drooping spikes, bearing smaller flowers of rosy-lilac, the petals being rolled.
Buddleia lindleyana has purplish-red flowers in small upright spikes and although not as profuse flowering as the varieties of Buddleia davidii, it is distinct.
Buddleia globosa (capitata) – Orangeball tree, has orange-yellow flowers in ball-like clusters produced in May and June. The leaves are pointed and white beneath its branches are covered with rusty wool.
The plants are half evergreen and tenderer than the above mentioned sorts. It would be useful for the greenhouse or for growing in the Carolinas, south to Florida and California.
Buddleia asiatica, White Butterfly bush, was at one time extensively forced by florists for its fragrant white flowers. It is not hardy. The leaves are very white.
Unique Buddleia Alternifolia With Distinct Blooming Characteristics
Unlike other members of the genus because of its alternate leaves, Buddleia alternifolia, the fountain butterfly bush, has the added distinctions of blooming on its old wood and being the first to bloom and the hardiest of the species.
The lilac-purple flowers, borne in June, are delightfully fragrant, and their abundance of pendulous arching sprays create an airy, graceful appearance.
Like all butterfly bushes, alternifolia prefers light, well-drained soil in a sunny situation. It will flower in partial shade, though less profusely.
In pruning, remember that alternifolia cannot be cut back severely as the other members of the genus.
Thinning, cutting off weak and dead wood, and occasionally removing the oldest branches to the ground should be practiced just after blooming.
Give this plant from China sufficient room about 10 to 15′ feet in which to expand. At buddleia flowering time (summer) its colorful floral display will be one of the highlights of your early Summer garden.
Using Buddleia Plants and Bushes
Buddleias are splendid for specimens and are often much at home in small yards where few other shrubs are planted.
They are often used at the back of a large perennial border. Good buddleia plants will be wider than high so they take up 6′ to 8′ feet in diameter.
As a source of cut flowers the Butterfly bush is unexcelled. Webster wrote that they are good for smoky places.
Soil Type
Buddleias must be planted in well drained soil, it must be remembered that in the colder regions they are not perfectly hardy with a pH 6.0-8.0.
Pruning Tall Buddleia Plants
Rarely does the top of Buddleia remain alive until Spring in the Ohio area, and when such is the case, the flowering is greatly impaired by allowing the tops to remain.
Cut the plants down to about 2-3 inches each Spring. If the plants lack symmetry throughout the early Summer, it may be useful to pinch the ends of the branches to make the plants bushier.
How To Propagate Buddleia
Propagate soft Buddleia cuttings in Summer. I always dip cutting is a plant rooting hormone powder when starting new plants.
Hardwood cuttings can be taken in Fall and stored out of danger of frost.
Seed sown under cover in February grows a foot a month after it gets started. It may be sown in open soil in April. Of course, the varieties are not absolutely true from seed.