Creative Butterfly Bush Landscaping Ideas

The butterfly bush, or Buddleia, is a garden shrub prized for its abundant flowers and vigorous growth. Its conical blooms emerge in a spectrum of colors throughout the summer, continuing until the first frost. The plant attracts a wide array of pollinators, including butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds, adding life to garden spaces. Its easy care and rapid development make it a popular choice for establishing a substantial planting quickly.

Choosing a Butterfly Bush for Your Space

Size and Form

Selecting the right butterfly bush starts with its mature size. Standard varieties can reach 6 to 12 feet in height and width, making them suitable for spacious backdrops or as individual specimens. For smaller gardens or containers, numerous dwarf cultivars offer a compact solution. Series like ‘Pugster’ and ‘Lo & Behold’ produce plants that remain around two feet tall, delivering the same vibrant flowers on a smaller frame.

Color Palette

The color palette of your garden is influenced by your choice of butterfly bush. Blooms are available in deep purples, vibrant pinks, crisp whites, and cool blues. Cooler tones, such as the white of ‘Ice Chip’ or lavender-blue of ‘Blue Chip Jr.’, can create a serene atmosphere. Conversely, hot-colored varieties like ‘Miss Molly’ can inject energy into the landscape.

Non-Invasive Varieties

Consider the plant’s potential for invasiveness. The common butterfly bush, Buddleja davidii, produces a large amount of seed and is problematic in areas like the Pacific Northwest. Plant breeders have developed sterile or nearly sterile cultivars that produce less than two percent viable seed. Many popular dwarf series, including Lo & Behold® and Flutterby™, fall into this category, making them a responsible choice. In states like Oregon, these approved plants are often sold as “summer lilac.”

Butterfly Bush as a Garden Focal Point

To use a butterfly bush as a focal point, position it to draw the eye and anchor a garden design. A single, well-placed larger variety can serve this purpose, especially at the center of an island bed where it can be viewed from all sides. Another approach is to plant it at the end of a straight pathway, providing a clear destination. A butterfly bush can also anchor the corner of a home’s foundation planting, where its arching branches and summer-long blooms soften architectural lines.

Planting a skirt of complementary plants around the base enhances its appearance and creates a finished look. Low-growing groundcovers like sweet alyssum or creeping phlox provide a carpet of fine-textured foliage that contrasts with the coarser leaves of the Buddleia. Drought-tolerant annuals like portulaca or trailing lantana also work well, sharing the butterfly bush’s preference for sunny, well-drained conditions while suppressing weeds.

Incorporating Butterfly Bushes into Borders and Hedges

Butterfly bushes can be integrated into mixed perennial borders to provide structure, height, and reliable mid-to-late summer color. Taller varieties are best situated in the back layer of the border, where their height allows them to be seen over shorter plants. Medium-sized cultivars can be placed in the middle, surrounded by perennials that offer contrasting forms. For a more interesting composition, pair them with plants that have different shapes, like the bold flowers of coneflowers (Echinacea) or the spiky blooms of salvia.

For a more functional application, multiple butterfly bushes can be planted in a row to form an informal hedge or screen. This type of planting creates a soft, living wall that can define a property line or screen an undesirable view during the summer and fall. Since these shrubs are deciduous, the screen will be seasonal, losing its density in the winter. Pairing them in a hedge with other large, summer-blooming shrubs like Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus) can create a long-lasting floral display.

Creating a Pollinator-Friendly Garden Bed

Use a butterfly bush as the anchor for a dedicated pollinator garden to create a functional habitat for beneficial insects. The butterfly bush serves as a primary source of nectar. It can be surrounded by other plants that offer different resources or attract a wider variety of pollinators.

To ensure a continuous food supply from spring through fall, select companion plants that bloom at different times, a concept known as succession blooming. Include early spring bloomers like columbine (Aquilegia) before the butterfly bush leafs out. Add summer plants like bee balm (Monarda) and coneflowers to bloom alongside the Buddleia. For late-season forage, asters provide nectar well into autumn.

A complete pollinator garden should also include host plants for the larval stage of butterflies and moths. While adult butterflies feed on nectar, their caterpillars require specific plants for food. For example, milkweed (Asclepias) is the only host plant for monarch butterfly caterpillars. Planting a combination of nectar sources and host plants supports the entire lifecycle of these insects.