Attract beautiful butterflies to your garden with a butterfly bush.
Planting, Growing, and Pruning Butterfly Bushes
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The butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii) is a fast-growing shrub with masses of showy, fragrant flowers that attract pollinators. Planted in spring or fall before frost, this perennial will bloom from summer through autumn. Learn how to grow a butterfly bush (and learn if you should plant a butterfly bush).
About Butterfly Bushes
Also called “summer lilacs,” Buddleja 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.
Catherine Boeckmann
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When the flower itself is gone where do you actually cut it back to have more come in. At a stem connection or just at bottom of flower, please help I'm finally getting so many gorgeous monarchs and others. It's August 2nd 2017 at 12:00 noon. I'd appreciate an answer soon as possible. Thank you so muchpossible ( by flower being "gone" I mean dead , all individual little flowers on stem "dead" I know to cut them but on this bush not sure where exactly. F
Hi Angela,
When the flower is spent, cut the stem back either at the base of the flower or down to the end of the stem connection. The trimming simply helps the bush to use its energy on creating new blooms instead of going to seed. The choice of where to trim is based on whichever looks better in your opinion!
We live in Georgia and it is 95 or so every day. We have had more rain than usual this year. I have four butterfly bushes in full sun. The ones in front of our building look like dead stems with a couple of green leaves and dead flower heads. the ones in the back look full and vibrant. Why the difference? Should I still wait til next Spring to trim the deal looking ones?
It’s a tough call from here…we don’t know your soil quality or the specifics of the site. Here’s a possible reason: too much water due to pour drainage, which could be heavy soil or pavement or other obstructions. As for trimming it now, that should not hurt it. It may not result in a recovery but it will look better.
We have several butterfly bushes that were planted last fall and are doing fairly well. We failed to cut them back in the spring. They are very tall but not as many leaves as we think it should have and not super healthy looking. Would it hurt the plants to trim the tops a little?
Flowers appear on new wood. You probably would not have significant new-wood growth in this flowering season. With that in mind, it’s probably fine is you neaten the plant by trimming it now. As noted, this is considered an invasive plant; if invasives could be eliminated by simply pruning them out of season, more people would do that. (no judgement call here; just explaining from a different perspective)
planted last year, untouched since
about 5 feet tall
should I trim now?
cut to the ground in the spring? really?
thank you!
For a few years, Butterfly Bushes were outlawed in our state (Washington). With the new sterile variety, there is no threat of invasion. Mine are a hybrid, strong, healthy, with vigorous growth both flowers and greenery. There are fewer colors available as they continue to breed this lovely plant. I wish Farmer's Almanac would update their original article to reflect the hybrids and rescind their ban.
Hi Mary,
While it is true that there are sterile varieties of butterfly bushes, those varieties are only roughly 98% sterile. This means that there is still the possibility of producing viable seed. Those mostly sterile varieties have the possibility of cross-pollinating with the invasive non-sterile varieties that are already growing throughout the country and forming resilient virile varieties. It has happened before with other “sterile” varieties of invasive ornamentals.
My neighbours are bullys ..accosted me TELLING me they had spent a lt of money on theyre concrete slab front garden and i was to cut my plant as it would shed all on their slabs ...today they went one farther and said it wasnt to stay there as it would destroy their wall built last yr ....this plant is 1 yr old .flowering lovely and ive ni intention of letting it grow inti a tree..it will be pruned every yr down to ground....can these neighbours bully me like this ...i have googled and in hot countries they do go into trees .but not this country im not happy
