Bountiful buddlejas

Buddlejas produce colourful, nectar-rich flowers that attract many insects to the garden, including butterflies in search of a sugary treat

- Anne Swithinbank

ALSO known as butterfly bush, Buddleja davidii is a difficult plant to ignore. Even if you don’t have a cultivar in the garden, these shrubs are adept at sowing themselves, colonising railway embankments and waste ground. They invade chalky undercliffs and other wild places, so should you live close to a vulnerable area, choose sterile hybrids that won’t set seed such as B. x weyeriana ‘Pink Pagoda’. Where they pose no threat, buddleja seeds are a food source for finches.

Smaller growing cultivars

In the garden, butterfly bushes are quick to grow, easy to prune and a welcome sight in mid to late summer when flowers open in tapering panicles. Their nectar is popular with long-tongued butterflies, such as red admirals, peacocks, small tortoiseshells and commas. To keep the nectar bar open for longer, try delaying their pruning from late winter to mid to late spring, or plant later-flowering cultivars such as lilac-flowered B.d. ‘Autumn Beauty’ or compact, pink-flowering B.d. ‘Longstock Autumn Delight’. Recent breeding has produced many smaller growing cultivars with longer flowering periods, wider colour range, no seed production and the ability to thrive in containers.

Form, flowers and foliage