Growing Butterfly Bush

How to Plant, Grow, and Care for Butterfly Bushes

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Age-Old Wisdom meets Modern Tools

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The butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii) is a beautiful, fast-growing, deciduous shrub with masses of blossoms—long, spiked trusses—that bloom from summer to autumn.

Its flowers come in many colors, though butterflies seem to prefer the lavender-pink (mauve) of the species to the white and dark purple cultivars.

Also called “summer lilacs,” butterfly bushes are hardy to Zone 5 and remain evergreen from Zone 8 south. The shrub is low-maintenance, only requiring dead-heading and annual pruning in later winter to encourage flowers and a compact shape.

Invasive Concerns

Please note that the butterfly bush, originally imported from China, has been classified as an invasive species in most U.S. regions. In other words, the butterfly bush is known to crowd out native plants that are essential to wildlife, including butterflies and birds. In warm climates, it can become a noxious weed and spread aggressively, while in cooler climates, it mostly stays contained within a garden’s cultivated soil if gardeners deadhead the flowers.

Despite the “butterfly” name, keep in mind that this shrub is not a “host plant” for butterflies in that it does not support butterfly reproduction and lifecycle. Caterpillars do not feed on butterfly bushes; rather, it only provides nectar to adult butterflies. If you do have a butterfly bush, be sure to add native host plants such as milkweed, aster, and dill if you want the butterflies to stay. See plants that attract butterflies.

If you would still like to put a butterfly bush in your garden, there are a few species of non-invasive butterfly bushes native to the southwestern US. Please check with your local cooperative extension for more information.

Planting

Planting Butterfly Bushes

Buddleias need full sun and fertile, well-drained soil.
Plant in spring or fall before frost. See your local frost dates.
Loosen the soil, mix in compost, and dig a hole twice the diameter of the plant container.
When placing the plant in the hole, the top of the rootball should be level with the soil surface
Space plants 5 to 10 feet apart, depending on the variety.
Water thoroughly.

Care

Caring for Butterfly Bushes

Water freely when in growth and sparingly otherwise. In the summer, water if rainfall is less than 1 inch per week.
Avoid fertilizing butterfly bush; too much fertility promotes leaf growth over flower production.
Remove spent flower spikes to encourage new shoots and flower buds.
In addition, it is important to deadhead the flowers just as they start to wither so that this invasive plant doesn’t spread volunteer seeds. Deadheading of this invasive is now required in many states.
Each spring, apply a thin layer of compost and mulch to retain moisture and control weeds.
In cold, Northern climates, spread mulch up to 6 inches deep around the trunk to nurture it through the winter.
Buddleias are very late to break dormancy, so don’t be in a hurry to assess winter damage.
The bush should bloom abundantly even in its first year. In warmer climates, the bushes will grow into trees and develop rugged trunks that peel; peeling is normal.
In the northern limit of their range, they behave as herbaceous perennials, dying back to the root in cold winters.
Since they bloom on new wood, even if there is no die-back, cut them back to the ground every spring. Yes, hack to the ground!
Even where winters are mild enough for the stems to survive, prune severely to stimulate abundant growth on which flowers are borne.

Pests/Diseases

Susceptible to capsid bug, caterpillars, weevils, mullein moth, and spider mites.
Fungal leaf spots and die-backs can occur.
Butterfly bushes are one of many deer-resistant plants.

Recommended Varieties

We are no longer recommending new plantings of the butterfly bush, given its categorization as an invasive in most of North America. Instead, we recommend using plants that better support the native landscape and food web, given our declining pollinator population. See alternative plants that attract butterflies.

Native Alternatives

Here are a few great flowering alternatives that also serve as host plants for caterpillars:

Asters (Symphyotrichum)
Beardtongue (Penstemon)
Bee Balm (Monarda)
Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia)
Columbine (Aquilegia)
Coneflowers (Echinacea)
Goldenrod (Solidago)
Irises (Iris)
Milkweed (Asclepias)
Rhododendrons & Azaleas (Rhododendron)
Spicebush (Lindera)
Strawberries (Fragaria)
Verbena (Verbena)
Viburnum (Viburnum)
Yarrow (Achillea)

See a list of host plants native to your area here: Native Plant Finder

Reader Comments

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Butterfly Bush

My butterfly bush got too big and split in half and then died. I will buy another one in the next month--it was so beautiful and the butterflies and bees loved it. It must be invasive up north bc I never dead-headed it and I have no seedlings.

Height

6 - 12 feet

Please Advise: Can I relocate an established Butterfly Bush?

I have a beautiful & healthy Butterfly Bush in a bed right next to my front door-The bees LOVE this bush so I absolutely want to keep it but I’d like to relocate it to the backyard garden away from my front door (my dog was recently stung by a bee while entering the house). I live on the coast in Massachusetts & the Bush is approximately 6 years old; I’d very much appreciate any advice about how/when to relocate this bush. Thanks!

Transplanting Butterfly Bush

Luckily, butterfly bushes are vigorous growers and are easily transplanted! The best time to transplant perennial plants is in the fall or early spring, when they’re neither flowering nor producing new growth.

In your case, wait until early to mid-fall, when temperatures start to cool off, then dig and transplant the bush. Once in the ground, the foliage may look a little sad for a while, but it will recover once the roots re-establish themselves (or the foliage will die back in winter anyway, if it normally does). If rain is infrequent, be sure to keep the bush watered after transplanting. Before hard frost and snow arrive, you may want to add a 2-3 inch layer of mulch over top of the plant—just as added protection for this winter.

Butterfly bush

Why are my flowers on my butterfly bush not lasting very long. About one or two days. These are the big purple ones. The reddish ones last much longer.

butterfly bush flowers

That is strange. A butterfly bush will bloom all summer long. Several plants go by the common name Butterfly Bush. Are you definitely referring to Buddleia davidii, which blooms on new growth?

Of course, if your busy is NOT flowering, that’s usually an issue of pruning at the wrong time. Stems should be pruned back in late winter moving into early spring to encourage large, lush flower spikes. You can let it grow into a shrub form, (which could eventually be about 12’x15’) but your flower “show” won’t be as spectacular. Avoid pruning in late spring, summer, fall, or early winter.

But you’re saying your flowers DO bloom and just do not last a long time. Is your bush getting enough sun? A butterfly bush LOVES sun and requires a minimum of 8 hours of bright sunlight.

Also, try removing (deadheading) the spent blooms periodically during the summer to encourage additional new growth and subsequent flowers until frost.

Butterfly bush dead?

The house came with a butterfly bush and I admit I am not good at knowing how to care for things outside. We've been here for 2 years and I have never done anything to the plant at all. This year nothing seems be happening at all so far, no blooms or even things that look like buds. The bush is about 6 feet tall and has a hard center stalk like a tree. Is it dead? Is it too late in the year to chop it to the ground like you suggest? From some other comments here - the soil I have been told is kind of clayey, it should have good drainage, it rains here pretty regularly though seems to be wetter this year, lots of sun in that spot. We are in zone 5b in MA.

Butterfly. Ush

I have 2 Madagascar butterfly bush growing instead of becoming tree or shrub like they are sprawling everywhere. What would be the best way to have them growing up rather than ground level sprawling. Would it benefit putting on a trellis

Staking

It sounds like the plant would benefit from support of some sort. Perhaps tie the branches up to a couple stakes—or a trellis, as you mentioned.

Butterfly bush

I bought my butterfly bush a few years ago, it bloomed beautifully the first-year, after that the leaaves and blooms were just puny. Tried removing spent blooms, new blooms were still punny. Last year it starting putting on nice size leaves, the leaves yellowed and no blooms.This year the plant is doing the same, leaves are yellowing, no blooms. I added some top soil a couple of weeks ago, it might be too soon to see if it helped. Now I am thinking of adding some MiracleGro or maybe some fish emulsion...HELP PLEASE

Butterfly Bush Troubleshooting

What is the planting site like? Is the soil well-draining or is it quite clayey? Does the plant get a ton of water or is it fairly dry? Is it in full sun or shade? It could be that the planting site is just not ideal for the plant!

new plant

I put out a small butterfly bush start from Tractor Supply this spring. It had a few leaves at the time. Those are gone, and all I have is a twig like stem, about 8 inches tall. I am not sure how long to wait for something to happen, or if I should cut back to ground, or am I doomed? Knoxville, TN

Doomed?

Certainly not. We can’t be sure from this vantage point: It could take the plant a bit of time to become established. Sometimes plants take the transition poorly and look worse before they get better. If you think things are dire, you could take a picture of the plant to show to the good folks at Tractor Supply or even uproot it, gently, and bring it back to express your dissatisfaction. (We would advise this of any plant that does not seem to “take” when planted.) It’s still early in season so you should be able to try a new one if it comes to that.

Dara I bought 3 butterfly

Dara I bought 3 butterfly bush's on clearance sale last year they looked great.One of them did the same as yours.I kept it anyway just to see if it would come back and it did it's as big as the other 2 .I didn't cut mine back until this year so I would remember what was in pot.So keep your twig in same pot it may come back. My dead twig is a beautiful blooming plant this year.The other 2 plants did the same thing in winter and all came back covered with beautiful blooms.So good luck with yours.

Cultivating a new bush from an existing one

My roommates mom planted a butterfly bush a few years ago right before she passed away. As one of the last things her mom was able to do, she really would like to have part of this bush growing at her mother's grave. Someone else owns the house, and the bush now. We don't envision they will just let us dig it up. Can we cultivate a new plant from some branches and if so, how?

Thanks for any help anyone can offer, it means a lot to her.

propagating butterfly bush

The most efficient way to cultivate a new plant is to take a a healthy-looking 4 to 6 inch stem (vibrant color, minimal to no wilting or present disease, etc.) on the upper portion on the plant, cut just below a healthy bud (new growth) and avoid the flower buds as much as possible. Remove the foliage from the bottom third of the stem. Dampen the lower portion of stem and “dip” it into root powder (this is dry powder, so “dip” means cover it). Shake or tap off excess powder. Plant the powdered stem into a pot that half/half perlite and peat, dampened but not drippy. Cover the plant lightly with plastic, place it in indirect sunlight, and mist it to keep the soil damp. In 3 to 6 weeks, tug on it gently to see if it has set roots. If it has, you can transplant it to a larger container. Give it time to become established, then transplant it into the soil.

Or, if it is not possible to get a cutting from the original plant, in good faith to your roommate’s mother (it’s the thought that counts), you could purchase a plant.

Buddleia - Butterfly Bush

I planted two butterfly bushes last spring. The only growth was lots of fuzzy leaves with no wood at all. They are planted in good top soil, with some slow release fertilizer. Should I cut all the leaves to the ground or should I let it grow. It's been in the ground for 1 year.

Butterfly Bush

Let it grow for now—it’s still getting established and needs all its leaves to gather energy.

Butterfly Bush

Can a butterfly bush stay in a pot on my patio, or does it need to be planted in the ground?

INVASIVE?

I have been struggling to get mine to survive for 15 years!

Butterfly Bush

Plant is doing beautifully and blooming profusely, however it has started to wilt in the PM. Too much or too little water? Located in SW Florida. Plant gets full sun!

NEED HELP ASAP

This appears to be a repeat question but no one has answered it yet so here goes... A friend of mine owns a local nursery in Central Arkansas (zone 7) and just gave me a butterflybush and I am having the same issue as the person that left the last comment, it states that it needed to be planted before the first frost but it is now 11/27/18 and past the first frost, is there anything at all that I can do to save it?

just purchased

I just got a cranrazz bush and we have already gotten a freeze. What can i do with it? the directions say plant before frost. please help :)

butterfly bushes

Southern Illinois - my part of it anyway - has heavy clay soil; I have Not seen any evidence of invasiveness of butterfly bushes around here.
My butterfly bush is the Best nectar plant I have. It blooms for months, And, importantly, my local deer do not eat it.

Butterfly Bush v. Black Walnut Tree

I just bought a butterfly bush lastnight because we were at the nursery and my kids absolutely loved the butterflies buzzing around. Anyways, I didnt plan on buying this, therefore didnt do ANY research. My neighbor has a Black Walnut Tree, and I have done extensive reading on that over the years when it came to choosing plants for my yard. I have never seen a list that included the Butterfly Bush as being able to tolerate the juglone nor have I seen it say that it is sensitive to juglone toxicity. Can anyone spread any light as to whether this plant can tolerate a black walnut tree? Also I live in a suburb of Buffalo, NY....will this plant have a good chance and coming back each year? Thank you

Butterfly Bush and Black Walnut Tree

Hi Amanda,

Butterfly bushes are not known for particularly being resistant or susceptible to black walnut tree juglone, but some people have successfully grown them with a black walnut tree nearby. Our recommendation would be to plant your butterfly bush in an area as far away from the tree as possible to give it the best chance. Also, yes, your bush should come back each year in your region. We hope this helps!

Trimming butterfly bushes

I've had a butterfly bush in my Koi pond for years now and it grows very nicely and gets large (over 8ft). It blooms all summer and attracts butterflies but- a heavy rain bends the long branches and the bush does not recover. If I trim it back will it bloom again? All the blossoms are at the ends of the long shoots.

Deadheading Butterfly Bush

Yes, trimming back the old blooms (deadheading) will encourage the plant to bloom again.

Honeycomb Butterfly Bush

I received a Honeycomb Butterfly bush for my birthday June 1st. I would like to plant this the first of September. I live in Austin and the first frost is November. Is it ok to plant in the fall and let it winter over? We don't have severe winters and I'm afraid it won't last in the pot until Spring.

Butterfly bush

I planted a buterfly bush last fall and it survived the winter without protection. I live in Nfld., Canada where the temperature drops to around - 15 C in January. I thought it was dead this spring but left it in the ground. It's still blooming nicely so I just planted two more. Good luck.