Caption
Attract beautiful butterflies to your garden with a butterfly bush.
If you’ve ever dreamed of a garden buzzing with butterflies, the butterfly bush might seem like your perfect match. With its arching stems and cone-shaped clusters of fragrant blooms, this fast-growing shrub is a pollinator magnet that brings nonstop summer color. But before you plant, there’s more to consider—like when to prune (hint: not too early!) and whether your region may classify it as invasive.
In this guide, we’ll help you plant, grow, prune, and responsibly care for Buddleja—so you can enjoy its beauty while being a smart steward of your garden.
Also called “summer lilacs,” butterfly bushes (Buddleia davidii) are hardy to Zone 5 and remain evergreen from Zone 8 south. Growing 5 to 10 feet tall, this large, arching shrub produces an abundance of flowers—long, spiked trusses—in mainly purple and pink colors. The shrub grows well in perennial gardens or as a shrub border, and the flowers are good for cutting.
Don’t prune at the wrong time. Butterfly bush growth appears on new wood, so pruning should wait until the new wood is ready to grow in spring. Also, be patient with this shrub as it may not leaf out in the spring until after other perennials.
Invasive Concerns of Butterfly Bushes
Please note that the butterfly bush, originally imported from China, has been classified as an invasive species in many U.S. states, as it’s known to crowd out native plants that are essential to wildlife. In warm climates, it can become a noxious weed and spread aggressively, while in cooler climates, it mostly stays contained if gardeners deadhead the flowers.
Note: The butterfly bush does provide adult butterflies with nectar similar to that of many flowers. However, it is not a “host plant” for butterfly larvae; if you want the butterflies to stay, be sure to add native host plants such as milkweed, aster, and dill. 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 United States. Also, there are newer varieties that stay compact and won’t take over your garden. See our native list of butterfly bushes below.
Please check with your local cooperative extension for more information.
Types
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 to Butterfly Bushes
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
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Comments
If the plant has leaves, it is probably not dead. Read the care tips above and be sure the plant is getting everything it needs.
Is the mold on the soil or on the plant itself? If the mold is on the stems of the plant, then those stems could be dead or dying. Do a scratch test on those stems—scrape off a tiny piece of the bark above the moldy bit to see if the stem is still green underneath. If so, the stem is still alive and the mold is likely just superficial.
If the mold is only on the soil, it's due to decaying matter in the soil, such as fallen leaves or other plant matter.
As long as the plant has leaves, it's not dead. Scrape off all the mold that you can, then treat the plant and surrounding soil with a fungicide to discourage new fungal growth. The plant may not bloom this year, but if it survives, it should be back to normal in the future.
Hi Reihm,
If you cut back too early, a frost can do damage to any new growth that you expose. Try a scratch test by scraping a little of the back away on a few stems. If the wood inside is green, it's alive. If it's brown, it's dead. At this point, cut back any dead wood you find to green wood, which should encourage the bush to grow. We hope this helps!
Hi Frances,
Depending on your region, it most likely isn't too late. Cut back any dead wood to expose green wood to encourage growth!
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We can not be absolutely certain but can only suggest that the transition from pot to plot can be traumatic. Did you retain the soil on the root ball or shake a good bit of it off? If you did the latter, you may have prolonged its transition/adjustment period. Its roots need to get acclimated again, set themselves up to feed and supply drink to the plant. That's a big job. Here's another idea: you could contact the source you purchased it from and see if they have a return/exchange program, or at least see if this is a common experience and what to do about it.