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If you are looking for vibrant and special flowers as a stunning addition to your garden, Butterfly Bush (Buddleia) is one of the brightest choices for you. Do you want to get these flowers to light up your landscape? As a result, this article from gardenhow.net will provide all the information about varieties of Butterfly Bushes.
All of Butterfly Bushes
Before finding varieties of Butterfly Bushes, you need to learn some information about this flower. Buddleia (Buddleja), a common garden plant that was imported from China in the 1890s and has since become naturalized on waste land, railway cuttings, and in urban areas, is a common garden plant.
Moreover, Buddleia is a well-known bush with large, drooping spikes of tiny, purple (or occasionally white) flowers that are tightly clustered. It features long, narrow leaves and honey-scented blooms.
Furthermore, Buddleia used to be exclusively accessible as tall plants that grew to be at least 7 feet tall. Plant breeders, on the other hand, are now releasing lots of new shorter types that are simpler to fit into the average home garden.
The Varieties of Butterfly Bushes
When it comes to Buddleia, there are varieties of Butterfly Bushes based on the different factors used to classify them. Let’s explore.
Deciduous Butterfly Bush varieties
Firstly, here are some examples of varieties of Butterfly Bush:
Butterfly Bush ‘Black Knight’
Silvery leaves and fragrant purple blooms on a deciduous shrub. Rabbit resistant and tolerates clay soil. When few other shrubs are in bloom, the ‘Black Knight’ Butterfly Bush provides excellent summer and early fall blooms. When used in mass plantings in borders, cottage gardens, or butterfly gardens, it produces the best results. The shrub ‘Black Knight’ is seldom utilized as a single specimen. Butterflies, hummingbirds, and other pollinators love it.
Butterfly Bush ‘Pugster Blue’
Meet Pugster Blue, a Butterfly Bush with a fresh new design. This little plant only grows to be 2 inches tall and broad, yet it has the huge, full blossoms of a much larger plant. It produces true-blue flowers with a small yellow-orange eye in the center that bloom nonstop from early summer through frost.
Buddleia Flutterby Grande ‘Peach Cobbler’
Flutterby Grande Peach Cobbler Butterfly Bush is a multi-stemmed deciduous shrub that grows tall and spreads out. Its average texture blends into the environment, although it can be effectively balanced by one or two finer or coarser trees or plants.
Buddleia Flutterby Petite ‘Snow White’
Because this shrub is deciduous, it loses all of its leaves in the autumn and then regrows new foliage in the spring. This little plant will enchant you with its profusion of white flower spikes, which bloom for a long time starting in July.
Buddleia pikei ‘Hever Castle’
With fragrant, orange-centered lilac blooms in mid-to-late spring, it resembles a tiny Buddleia alternifolia.
Buddleia ‘Lochinch’
‘Lochinch’ features lilac-blue blooms with orange eyes that are extremely fragrant. Its arching, mounded habit normally grows 3 to 5 feet in one season, but in the deep South, it can grow much taller. The flower spikes, which are 8 to 12 inches long, begin blooming in late summer and last until frost, commencing a bit later than B. davidii cultivars.
Semi green Butterfly Bush varieties
The next name in the varieties of Butterfly Bushes we want to show you is the semi green Butterfly Bush.
Buddleia ‘Miss Ruby’
The fat, magenta-red flower spikes attract clouds of butterflies to their perfumed blossoms starting in June and give lots of color into October. This medium-sized shrub has been well suited for smaller gardens while still being rather spectacular. Even better, because this deciduous shrub is nearly sterile, you won’t have to worry about unwanted seedlings. 200cm in height and spread (78″).
Orange Ball Tree Buddleia
Orange Ball Tree Buddleia (Buddleia globosa) is a big, semi-evergreen, early blooming species of Buddleia. It features lovely dark green leaves and tiny orange ball-shaped blooms. One of the UK’s hardiest plants, ideal for seaside gardening.
Butterfly Bush Royal Red
Buddleia davidii is a kind of Buddleia. Royal Red has gray-green foliage that is semi-evergreen. It has a profusion of little purple-red blooms clustered in long panicles of 50 cm, which are extremely honey-bearing and have a delicious honey fragrance that attracts foraging insects, giving it the nickname Butterfly Tree.
Evergreen Butterfly Bush varieties
Pugster White : The evergreen shrub is just two feet tall and two to three feet wide, yet it produces a profusion of big, fragrant, dazzling white flowers.
Buddleia Hybrids
Buddleia Blue Chip
It has dark green to grey leaves that resemble B. lindleyana; it produces practically no viable seed; Buddleia Blue Chip is highly hardy and evergreen; and it has tightly packed purple flowers. And that’s the only issue: the blossom color isn’t even close to blue, yet it’s still a very deep hue.
Buddleia Pride of Longstock
This is a unique cross to try. The leaves of this robust shrub resemble those of B. globosa, but they are white felted like those of B.crispa. The blooms are globose and pink in color, turning yellow as the temperature rises.
Buddleia Winter Sun
Buddleja ‘Winter Sun’ has clusters of salmon pink blooms with an orange eye and a yellow flush. This cultivar is not hardy due to its lineage and should be cultivated in a big pot and transferred under glass for the winter.
Dwarf Butterfly Bush
A dwarf Butterfly Bush is a miniature counterpart of a standard Butterfly Bush. The majority of small Butterfly Bushes lack seeds and are sterile. Dwarf Butterfly Bushes are often non-invasive as a result of this trait. You may plant multiple tiny shrubs in your landscaping due to their modest size. The following are some examples of dwarf cultivars in the genus Buddleja:
Buddleia ‘Miss Molly’
‘Miss Molly’ is the queen of the summer garden, with its brilliantly colored flowers and exquisite habit. Its fragrant blooms are the reddest of any butterfly shrub and bloom for months without needing to be deadheaded every summer. Unlike earlier types of Butterfly Bush, ‘Miss Molly’ grows only 4-5′ (1.2-1.5m) tall, making it easy to incorporate into any sunny landscape.
Buddleia ‘Miss Ruby’
This deciduous shrub has deep green leaves and fuchsia flowers that appear in the spring and last throughout the summer. This deer-resistant butterfly shrub attracts butterflies, birds, and hummingbirds. The Miss Ruby Butterfly Bush grows to be forty-eight to sixty inches tall in the garden, with a spread of forty-eight to sixty inches as well. Use it as a border plant, a focal point, or a mass plant.
Butterfly Bush ‘Border Beauty’
‘Border Beauty’ is a compact, deciduous shrub with lance-shaped leaves and rich crimson-purple, fragrant flowers in panicles to 20 cm long on dark stems from summer to fall.
Buddleia Lo & Behold series
It all began with a plant! ‘Blue Chip’ Butterfly Bush from Lo & Behold sets the benchmark for non-invasive dwarf Buddleia. This landscaper’s favorite has a neat, mounded habit, fragrant purple-blue blooms, and continuous bloom without the need to deadhead.
Butterfly Bush Flutterby Petite Tutti Fruitti Pink
Buddleja Flutterby Petite Tutti Fruitti Pink (Butterfly Bush) is a small deciduous shrub with elegantly arching branches and lance-shaped, fuzzy gray-green leaves studded with delightfully fragrant panicles of vivid fuchsia-pink flowers.
Noninvasive Butterfly Bush Type
The bushes known as Butterfly Bushes are not native to North America. Because its masses of blossoms generate a large number of seeds, the plant is classified as noxious and invasive. Non-invasive Buddleia cultivars, on the other hand, can thrive in areas where invasive species are prohibited. Butterfly bushes that aren’t invasive are sterile and don’t generate many seeds.
On the other hand, summer lilac refers to non-invasive types of Butterfly Bush plants. This term aids in the identification of Buddleja species that aren’t harmful to native plants. Summer lilac gets its name from the fact that Butterfly Bush blossoms resemble lilac flowers.
The Varieties of Butterfly Bushes based on climate conditions
These bushes may reach a height of 20 feet (6 meters). They are incredibly resilient, surviving in temperatures as low as minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit (-28 degrees Celsius) yet tolerating significantly warmer regions. As a result, this makes them appealing garden plants in cold, medium, and hot climates, and there are Butterfly Bush varieties that will thrive in almost any climate.
The Varieties of Butterfly Bushes for cool climates
Even if you live in an area where winter frost occurs and cools down into the “minus” range, you may still grow some Butterfly Bush varieties. Although Butterfly Bushes are evergreen in warmer climates, they die back in the autumn and regrow quickly in the spring in cooler climates.
Moreover, you can choose from a variety of cold-hardy Butterfly Bushes and the height that suits you best. You may also select different Butterfly Bushes based on the color of their flowers. The ‘Black Night’ variation is an open-structured shrub that grows to 15 feet (4.5 meters) tall and has the darkest Butterfly Bush blooms.
Consider ‘Royal Red’ for maroon blossoms on a compact shrub. It doesn’t get much taller than 6 feet (2 m.). If purple flowers are your thing, look for ‘Purple Ice Delight’, a dense shrub that grows to be 8 feet (2.5 meters) tall and has dark flowers with pink highlights. Pink Delight, with its vivid pink flowers on 8 foot (2.5 m.) stems, is a good choice for additional pink.
Besides, you can find Gold blooms on certain hybrid Butterfly Bush species. ‘Sungold’ is a good choice (Buddleia x weyeriana). It’s roughly 8 feet (2.5 meters) tall, but its branches are covered in rich gold pom-pom blooms.
Varieties of Butterfly Bushes for warmer regions
In this zone, the butterfly plant variety is evergreen, meaning they maintain their leaves throughout the winter.
For its gorgeous silver-backed leaves and light lavender blooms, choose ‘Lochinich’.
Moreover, you can choose Buddleia asiatica. This tall shrub reaches a height of 15 feet (2.5 meters) and produces white blooms with a pleasant and powerful fragrance that can be smelled from across the yard.
For instance, with its soft, gray, velvety leaves, you can pick the ‘Himalayan’ Butterfly Bush. With orange eyes, the small lilac blossoms wink at you.
A good choice is White Profusion, a butterfly shrub with large, white blooms that grows up to zone 10. The white flower clusters are enormous, and the shrub itself reaches a height of ten feet (3 m.).
The Varieties of Butterfly Bushes based on colors
From delicate white-flowering Buddlejas to variations with clusters of startling deep blue and violet pannicles, this lovely shrub comes in a wide range of colors.
Blue and Purple Butterfly Bush Varieties
- Buddleia Nanho Blue: This colorful shrub, sometimes known as Mongo or Petite Indigo, has masses of blue-violet blooms that are very appealing to pollinators. Because it does not reach 1.5 metres in height, this Butterfly Bush type is excellent for both small and large gardens. RHS Perfect for Pollinators badge recipient.
- Buddleja Davidii Ile de France: This deep purple cultivar provides a wonderful addition to mixed shrub borders and a specimen shrub for lawns or patios, with a spread and height of 3.5 metres. RHS Perfect for Pollinators Badge recipient.
- Butterfly Bush Free Petite: This may be the tiniest Buddleja we have: with a height and spread of 65 cm, this teeny shrub will look lovely in even the smallest of spaces. Do not be fooled by its small size into believing it is more sensitive than others; this sturdy Butterfly Bush can easily resist subzero conditions!
White-flowering Butterfly Bushes Varieties
- Buddleja White Profusion: While this shrub is small (2 meters tall and wide), it produces big flowers: the long white panicles may grow up to 35 centimeters in length. This Butterfly Bush type is distinguished by its rounded, bushy growth style, in addition to its long-lasting white blooms. The RHS Perfect for Pollinators Badge and the prestigious RHS Award of Garden Merit have been conferred on her.
- Buddleja Silver Anniversary (Morning Mist): Morning Mist is the most unusual-looking of all the buddlejas, with beautiful silver leaves. The delicate white blooms with mustard centers are charmingly complemented by the wooly, lance-shaped leaves. This cultivar, depending on where it is planted, can preserve its leaves throughout the winter. It usually reaches a height and spread of 1.5 to 2.5 meters.
Pink and Red Butterfly Bushes Varieties
- Buddleja Pink Delight: Gardeners like this shrub for its lovely pink blooms, as the name indicates. When completely grown, this prolific flowerer will reach a height of 3 to 4 metres. The RHS Perfect for Pollinators Badge and the prestigious RHS Award of Garden Merit have been bestowed to her.
- Miss Ruby Butterfly Bush: The most vibrant reddish-pink blooms that absolutely stand out in the garden are favored in this small variety. In addition, flowers decorate this shrub from late spring to October, giving it the name “ Butterfly Bush Variety” with the longest flowering season. It will reach a height and width of 1 to 2 meters if completely established.
Are there any native Butterfly Bushes?
Although Buddleia davidii is native to China, you may also try these native plants:
Rio Grande Butterfly Bush
They are native to Arizona, Sonora, and Baja California Sur. The Rio Grande Butterfly Bush is a light-shaded open evergreen or deciduous shrub that thrives in mild shade. Its vivid green leaves provide the landscape with a refreshing feeling. In addition, it will reach a height of 5 feet and a width of the same. Flowers are greenish in color and grow in bunches the size of marbles all year. Butterflies are attracted to the aroma, which is characterized as “sweet ammonia.”
Orange Wooly Butterfly Bush
It is native to the Chihuahuan desert and is heat, sunlight, and drought hardy. It reaches a height of 5 feet and has a spread of the same size or larger. Its oval grey green leaves are coated in microscopic white hairs, giving the plant a velvety, fuzzy appearance. The woolly butterfly shrub grows tiny, vivid orange flowers from March to August.
Escobilla Butterfly Bush
Escobilla Butterfly Bush is a 3 to 4 feet high fragrant plant. The plant is tomentose, or thickly hairy, throughout, giving it a velvety appearance. At the tip of the stalks, tiny, scented yellow-green blooms are grouped in wooly heads. You can find it in both limestone and igneous soils throughout West Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico. Although the blooms aren’t particularly attractive, Escobilla can be used as a display or background plant because of its leaves, scent, and butterfly attraction.
Utah Butterfly Bush
Utah Butterfly Bush and Panamint Butterfly Bush are other names for Buddleja (or Buddleia) utahensis. It is a southwestern indigenous deciduous shrub that may be found growing wild in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah.
Wand Butterfly Bush
The Edwards Plateau near the Devil’s River in Val Verde County is home to the endemic (locally unique) Wand Butterfly Bush. It’s a low shrub that grows to approximately 3 feet tall and has drooping branches with long racemes of cream-colored flowers. You can find it near limestone cliffs or steep banks. Moreover, the opposite leaves are oval or lanceolate, smooth and green above and pale and fuzzy underneath. The leaves of the cultivar incana are dark and thickly hairy below.
What is the best Buddleia?
When it comes to varieties of Butterfly Bushes, the best choice is Black Knight. Combine Black Knight with Buddleia White Bouquet or White Profusion, an old favorite species created in New Orleans and excellent for the subtropical temperatures of coastal Australia. In addition, they, like Black Knight, are tall, arching varieties with enormous flower spikes. Planting the two together would create a fascinating Yin-Yang hedge. Black Knight also looks great with our dark-leaved plants and vibrant hot colors like pink, orange, and maroon. In addition, warm pink Pink Delight, deep lilac-lavender Joan, and brilliant magenta purple Royal Red complement each other and mix herbaceous and shrub borders beautifully. Plant them near the back of the bed, where they may shoot themselves into the sky like rockets.
What is the hardiest Buddleia?
Of the varieties of Butterfly Bushes, the frequently planted Buddleia davidii is a cold resistant Buddleia species native to central China and Tibet at heights of up to 7800′ (2600m). Buddleia species are found throughout Asia and the Americas, but the highest variety is found in South Africa, leading experts to believe that they originated there.
Furthermore, Buddleia davidii is a popular decorative plant in temperate climates worldwide. There are many varieties available, with flower colors, leaf colors, and plant sizes ranging from small to large. It’s a popular landscaping plant, as well as for container gardening and cutting flowers. Gardeners can cultivate Buddleias in USDA hardiness zones 5–10 in the United States, and are herbaceous perennials in the Zone 5 end of the range.
What are the most fragrant Butterfly Bushes?
The most fragrant flower among the varieties of Butterfly Bushes is Buddleia salviifolia. Buddleja salviifolia is a bushy semi-evergreen shrub that may reach a height of 4 meters in ideal circumstances. Moreover, it has dark green leaves that are wrinkled and puckered on top and thickly coated in white or brown hairs on the bottom. The length of the leaves might be wide or narrow. Large panicles bear masses of tiny white to lilac flowers. The blossoms have a sweet scent and range in color from a drab white to a near-purple hue. Flowering takes place in the spring, between August and October.
In addition, from the Western Cape to the Eastern Cape, the Free State, Lesotho, Kwazulu Natal, Swaziland, Northern Province, Mpumalanga, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and tropical Africa, this shrub is widespread and common. On the escarpment, it grows naturally on forest edges, rocky hillsides, and along stream banks.
What is the longest blooming Butterfly Bush?
It’s Pugster Blue Buddleia which is one of the longest shrubs. From early summer till frost, sturdy spires of purple-blue fragrant blooms, each dotted with a small orange eye, bloom nonstop. The blue Buddleia Pugster is perfect for a patio pot. The Pugster moniker comes from its similarity to a pug — the shrubs in this series are small, stocky, and adorable! The nectar-rich flowers attract butterflies and hummingbirds.
Furthermore, Buddleia Pugster Blue blooms constantly and abundantly without the need for deadheading or pruning. Just plant and get the benefits! Colorful, long-blooming, carefree, and easy-to-grow. These Proven Winners varieties have been tried and tested. Once established in the landscape, Butterfly Bushes are drought resistant.
On a smaller scale, the Pugster Series Buddleia has full-sized blooms. Even in colder areas, their thick stems let them survive the winter.
Why should you plant varieties of Butterfly Bushes?
Above all, there are so many reasons why you should plant varieties of Butterfly Bushes based on different factors such as beauty, care methods, benefits, etc.
Beauty
Firstly, Buddleias are known for their gorgeous blooms, which are tall fluffy cones filled with small blossoms. Moreover, these flowers have a rich, sweet, honey-like aroma and come in a variety of colors, including deep, bright, and pastel shades.
Varieties of Butterfly Bushes can attract butterflies. Therefore, Butterfly Bush is good for pollinators, but only for a part of their life cycle. It attracts butterflies due to the abundance of nectar.
The tough old plants
The next reason you should plant varieties of Butterfly Bushes is that they are tough old plants. They don’t mind if the soil is drier. You can see species forms growing in the most challenging dry settings in urban environments, such as outside masonry walls, beside railway lines, and on roofs.
Minimal care
Thirdly, they require minimal care. One of the reasons for the popularity of Buddleia is that it is easy to grow and extremely hard to destroy. With that type, even the most inexperienced gardener will succeed. It is normally free of pests.
In addition, hard pruning does wonders for them. An old plant that has been cut down to a very low trunk, practically to the ground, may recover and develop new blooming branches. If you cut off the old dead blooms, the stems are likely to develop a second and even third wave of buds.
Variety of weather conditions
Moreover, they can survive a variety of weather conditions. Buddleias can withstand cold and snow, so they’ll thrive in your garden if you reside in the south. And they do well in either full sun or partial shade. They can even survive salt spray.
Diversity
There are many different colors and varieties of Butterfly Bushes. For example, the flowers are typically blue, purple, and lavender in color, although they can appear in white, pink, and yellow.
Q & A
What is the Butterfly Bush size?
As you know, the Butterfly Bush is a deciduous shrub that may reach a height of 15 feet. The jagged edges of the opposite-growing leaves, which are 5-10 inches long, are evident. From midsummer until early-fall, the Butterfly Bush blooms. At the tips of branches, flowers create drooping or upright spikes.
Can the spread of Buddleia be controlled?
If you live in a region where Buddleia davidii isn’t yet an invasive plant, it’s only a matter of time until it becomes one. You may be able to limit the growth of Butterfly Bush if you painstakingly deadhead it before it goes to seed.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, gardenhow.net provided all the information that you need to know about the varieties of Butterfly Bushes. As a result, if you fall in love with this flower, access other articles related to Butterfly Bushes to explore further knowledge. Thank you for reading!
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