PlantFiles: Butterfly Bush, Summer Lilac, Orange-eye Butterfly Bush
Buddleja davidii 'Black Knight'

One of my friends has this plant, an it performs very well for her. I am planting two of these this Spring right next to my lantana flower bed.

As with most Butterfly Bush, this is a great plant. Nice dark color and that thick scent that fills the air. Brings in the butterflies in droves.

Great plant! I have 4 of them out in my garden and the bees and butterflies go nuts for the flowers. Butterflies will swarm all over the blooms and when they try to fly away, they can't help but turn around and come right back. I plan on getting a few more in different colors and planting them along a fence.

I hack these to the ground every year . They are the backbone of my largest flowerbed . I have them underplanted with cuphea ignea , king alfred type daffodils , phlomis russelana , several smaller growing agaves , variegated yucca, iris pallida variegata , katie ruellia , coryopsis route 66, salvia greggi of all colors , ham an egg lantanas , tecoma stans , golden splendor lilies , foxtail lilies , and two ocotillos for accent . This is my knockout flowerbed when its in full bloom it is amazing and hummingbird turf wars frequently break out .

7-8-11 GUN BARELL CITY, TEXAS EAST COUNTY. THIS PLANT IS A KNOCK OUT. IT ALSO THRIVES IN OUR EXTREMLY HOT SUMMERS. BUTTERFLYS AND HUMMERS LOVE IT. SO DO WE.

My bush was up to ten feet high last year before the first frost. I almost never watered it because it was on the back side of garage where hose will not reach. It responds very well to pruning and dead-heading. :)

I planted one of these bushes about twenty years ago. I think that one died - but it is hard to tell since I now have about ten of them - none which I have planted. They are beautiful in bloom and if you dead head them the flowers just keep on coming. Butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds love them. It is a real treat to watch them from my office window all day as they move between those, crape myrtles, and heptacodium trees. They bloom from mid summer to late fall. They don't seem to die back here, but in the years I forgot to cut them back to about a foot or two the bushes became unruly, huge, and not very attractive. Lesson learned. Remember to cut them back if you want them to remain attractive. They have brittle wood, especially on older plants that will split. I don't know if they propagate from seed or by undergroung runners but they do tend to pop up all over the place, which is good if you decide you want a large shrub to hide something and don't want to go out to the store and buy one. Generally they will sprout up just about everywhere.. I even have another variety which I never planted with smaller flowers that grew up on a south facing hill that I only water occassionally and it is now a large shrub. They are invasive and if you want a plant that does not reproduce all over the place this is not the plant for you. If you don't mind pulling out those you do not want and enjoy the never ending parade of wildlife that these plants attract - then by all means plant it. You will never be without summer color.

Have 3 of these planted in full sun. They are really struggling in the intense heat this summer. The leaves turn yellow with brown spots, ends get brown and crunchy (dead!) and fall off. We just put a shade over them in hopes that they will survive. I LOVE this color and will replace them if they don't make it. Will update if I remember!

I am loving this plant. Never seen so many different butterflies. I deadhead often to ensure it has fresh flowers for them. Yay!!

I do have seeds for trade-see my trade list.

I find it interesting that the state of Oregon will ban the Buddleja plants because the plants are considered invasive. While I agree that the plants can be propogated from the seed quite easily, I do not agree that the nurseries should benefit from this decision. A similar situation has taken place with new varieties of corn that will not reproduce from the seed. Where are we headed if we try to re-engineer nature? I collect the butterfly seeds and have spread them around my garden. Each year a handful of new plants appear, but they do not appear to be taking over the world. I hope to some day have many more of these bushes and continue to attract more butterflies. This is one of my favorite plants in my garden.

This shrub dies back to the ground in my area (z5) and Butterfly Bush 'Nanho Blue' does much better. All Buddlejas will be banned for sale in Oregon by the end of 2009.

This is a difficult plant to grow in lahore Pakistan as it does not tolerate hot summer here. I have planted one in a clay pot with lots of mulching and it just survived our 45c hot summers. Growth is retarded but has resumed in mid july with start of rainy season. Have not seen it bloom yet. It grows easily in hilly areas specially in murree and blooms well there.

Our Black Knight is in its second year, and is really thriving. The blooms are much larger and fuller than last year. I've found that it is so irresistible to butterflies and bees that they will fly all around me when I am weeding at its feet. I've turned my head and found them just beside me, so absorbed in it's fragrance they they don't even seem to notice me there. I understand. . .I can get lost with my nose buried in one, too!

Has anyone saved seed and successfully grown it out?

I really like this plant and flowers are non stop until the winter time. I deadhead all the spent blooms just to promote new blooms which seems to work well. However, the color of the blooms have gone from dark purplish-blue to pinkish magenta. Has anyone else experienced this?

I love these plants, they attract tons of butterflies and are really easy to propagate by cuttings any time of the year. I deadhead constantly and cut it back late winter by one third.

I have a couple of these. For me, every year they get shorter - (maybe a little) but and they get alot wider. I cut all the way to the ground in late fall.(which was what I told when I purchased because the new growth comes out of the ground.) Every year I think that they died over winter because they do not show any life until the end of May-beginining of June. The best thing about them is that they really do attract LOT of butterflies and bees !!!

Beautiful shrub. It really does attract tons of butterflies! I deadhead the spent blooms to encourage more blooms, which will continue all summer and into the fall. Also, the individual blooms do not last a long time, so regular deadheading cleans up the plant. It is a little slow to get started in the spring, but once it does, it really grows fast! Also, in colder climates (such as where I live in zone 6), cut the plant all the way back to within about 12 inches of the ground in late winter. It may seem drastic but it really does encourage it to come back bigger and better each year. This is the most fragrant plant on our property.

For those who want to attract butterflies this plant takes the cake by far, Black knights flowers are super sweet and irresistable to butterflies,

I've recently gotten 3 different types of butterfly bushes. This one is probably my most favorite. The flowers are such a rich blackberry color and the sweet honey scent is like alyssum, but 10 times sweeter. My plants are still pretty small and already it is flowering. I'm so pleased with it!

In my zone (7ish), this plant doesn't die back in the winter. My mom has one in zone 5 and it does die to the ground every year, but keeps coming back for her. My Black Knight is the most bushy of the Buddlejas in my yard: it has lots of thin stems where the others tend to put out just a few main trunks and branch out from there. As others have said, the smell is wonderful. It reminds me of fresh grape jam.

Purchased this plant the previous spring and planted it next to the steps. Plant grew to 10ft. tall 6ft. diameter. numerous flowers and attractive to birds and bees. This area is on the coast, has fog in the summer and rain in the winter with occasional frost. Summer temp 60 to 70s with occasional 80.Awesome grower but needs to be clipped back to keep within bounds.

Beautiful! BF's love it!

With our mild winters this plant bloomed all winter and is still blooming into our HOT hot summer. It is planted in full sun next to the road and driveway. I rairly water it.

Black Knight is a very durable, rewarding plant. It requires little care, however, it'll benefit from deadheading the spent blooms.

Butterflies, bees and hummers CANNOT resist this plant. It has an almost overpowering sweet smell. Flower cones are of medium length, not as long as some of the other Buddleja cultivars. It's color is a rich, almost black purple, hence the name, Black Knight.

Plants can be trained to bush out or to grow more upright which lets it fit perfectly into a butterfly garden setting.

Black Knight is blooming for the second year now. The flowers are much bigger now..at least the triple size as last year. I guess the plant has settled now and grew more mature. Black Knight has a wonderfull colour..a very warm and dark purple (you can call it purple black with a red glow in it) with a dark orange eye. I think it is one of the prettiest among the Buddleia. It has a strong honey scent that can fill a room if you put a branch in a vase. I understand now better why butterflies love this bush. If you want butterflies..please plant a Buddlea...I've just counted about 50 butterflies on it!

My black knight is prolific in bloom all season long! As long as the flowers are dead headed on a regular basis it maintains it beauty!! I have them planted in a variety of conditions, clay soil with full sun, enriched soil in part sun that stays moist to wet, and part sun in moderate to dry soil. Wonderful plant!!!

While I find the plant very drought tolerant. I find the flowers less so. This plant flowers with us in mid-Summer. In dry weather they are often spent in a day and the repeats are very small. I am disappointed in this plant, I have another variety that flowers in Spring and is much more rewarding.

Easy to grow and drought tolerant. Wonderful dark purple blooms that are an average of 5 inches long...but some get up to 8 or 9 inches here! Very sweet scent. Nothing beats a buddelia for scent, except maybe a lilac or heliotrope!

Well recommended buddliea. Wonderfully fragrant and highly attractive to butterflies.
Easy to bloom and good grown habit.