Beautiful Buddleia

Host: Gary Bachman, Ornamental Horticulture Specialist

Transcription:

Home gardeners want bee friendly plants and here’s one sure to please today on Southern Gardening.

Known botanically as Buddleja, butterfly bush flowers are sweetly fragrant panicles of tiny blooms in various shades of white, blue, purple, pink, red, and even yellow. The flowers are displayed on arching graceful stems. Butterflies, bees and hummingbirds love these flowers.

I like the selections that have been bred to have a smaller stature because they’re great for containers and small gardens. Here are a few.

Flutterby Petite Tutti Frutti Pink displays seven to eight inch panicles of fuchsia red flowers each having a lighter center. This is great to enjoy grown in a sunny landscape. Little Angel has a dense and compact habit. Long pure white panicles, up to 10 inches, appear during the early spring and summer. Reblooming occurs later in the year extending the flowering season. And Little Nugget has a wide, low habit featuring masses of long wands of magenta-purple flowers displayed over stunning golden foliage. This is truly a garden treasure to behold. Plant butterfly bush in the full sun for best flowering as shade will reduce flowering and the plant will become thin and leggy. Butterfly bush is tolerant of any soil type as long as it’s well drained.

Butterfly bush has a loose growing habit that should never be contained by pruning. I’m horticulturist Gary Bachman and I hope you join me next time on Southern Gardening.