Butterfly bush
Buddleja davidii
also called buddleja, buddleia
Cut to knee height every March and it repays you by July — the harder the prune, the better the flowering.
Light Full sun, if you want flowers worth having.
Water Drought-tolerant; only newly planted shrubs need watering.
Height 3 m
Spread 8 ft 2 in
Spacing 250 cm
Spacing & sowing
- Plant spacing
- 8 ft 2 in
- In-row spacing
- 8 ft 2 in
- Between rows
- 10 ft 3 in
- Square-foot density
- Not suited to SFG
Growing
- Type
- Shrub · Perennial
- Botanical family
- Mixed / other
- Sunlight
- Full sun, if you want flowers worth having.
- Watering
- Drought-tolerant; only newly planted shrubs need watering.
- Feeding
- A compost mulch after the spring cut; it rarely asks for feed.
- Frost tolerant
- Yes
- Flowering
- July
- Pruning
- Cut hard back to 30-60cm in March, and deadhead as the flowers go over.
Through the year
- Mar–Jul Bud Break
- Jul–Sep Flowering
- Sep–Oct Growing
- Oct–Dec Leaf Fall
- Jan–Mar Leaf Fall
Companions
Lavender, Verbena, Echinacea, Sedum
Pests & problems
- Generally trouble-free No notable pest or disease problems when grown in the right conditions — one of the easy ones.
The Cottage Garden Companion — the gardener's herbarium at cottagegardencompanion.com