PlantFiles: Butterfly Bush
Buddleja x weyeriana 'Honeycomb'

This guy managed to keep on blooming throughout the severe winter last year! Copious blooms and is a butterly/insect magnet.

What a satisfying plant. We've had this one planted in full sun for three years now and it just keeps on flowering. We did have a problem with nematodes which were causing the plant to decline from the outside (tips) in. It had been looking so wonderful and I couldn't figure out what was happening. We have a good friend who's very knowledgeable about all plants in Florida, and he diagnosed nematodes. He told me to take some cuttings and re-plant them when they started to show new growth. I planted the successful cuttings in October '09 and those little babies made it through our freezes this year and, although they are not currently flowering, I have faith that they will. I planted several cuttings together for a "single" plant.

This plant seems to need to get to a certain height before it blooms. I have to periodically cut it back, usually late in the summer when it seems to get "fried" and shows some sort of insect damage (not sure what). The leaves get mottled and look a little sad, so I whack it back and it returns looking pretty, green, and before long, the lovely golden flowers appear.

Our bush is a favorite of all sorts of pollinators - butterflies, bees, and other flying critters. It's planted right outside our kitchen window so I frequently watch all the activity. The smell is very nice, but you have to get right up to the flowers to detect it.

The growth habit requires a bit of attention - maybe once a month, I have to cut back some of the side branches, as they start to cross over one another and it's not attractive when it's really cranking with growth. This doesn't take long and is a pleasant affair with all the pollinators buzzing about.

In my garden (Md.) this has been scrawny and didn't bloom much considering its size.

Honeycomb's flowers begin the summer shaped almost like balls, but as the summer progresses, the flowers lengthen until they resemble the ordinary trusses associated with butterfly gardens.

My only complaint is one of my own making: the shrub must contend with my neighbor's very thirsty maple roots. If I don't water Honeycomb, the foliage begins to look tawdry. Hope to do a better job caring for the shrub this summer!

This is an absolute must have for anyone loving butterfly bushes (buddleia). Mine is huge and averages around 6-7 feet tall here in central texas and full of blooms, the butterflies love it and so do the bees. Very easy to maintain.

Love it! Love the color!

This is also a fine Budleia that blooms whole summer until frost really hits hard. I cut it down every spring to 50 cm and it runs out to a firm bush of 200 cm again. I keep it deadheading while it blooms. Butterflies and bees love it too. It has a strong honeyscent which you also expect with the colour. It's very easy to maintain and very droughtresistant and disease-/crittersfree. Last winter we had frosts down to -20 C and it came out perfect. I live in the Netherlands in a zone 8a. it was sold to me as a Budleia globosa, but it turned out not to be one (I think).

Hm. I was warned when I bought this one that it could get seven feet tall. Is that short? I sent for it from S. Carolina, I live in west central Florida, zone 9b most of the time. I planted this bush last November. We had our usual winter regarding 2-3 frosts, but unusual in that it rained a lot. (Our usual rainy season is summer.) Honeycomb bloomed all winter, all spring, and all summer. I cut it back in August, later than I'd intended. It's blooming again now. For all I know, this bush could be short-lived down here. But its very fragrant, unusual flowers were VERY welcome all last winter! Many little native bees visited it, many sulfur butterflies did too.

A different butterfly bush for a couple of reasons. One is that the bloom is in small, roundish sections instead of long and cone-like. The second is that is doesn't grow quite as tall as some other varieties, which can be nice in a smaller space. Flowers still have the same, sweet scent. I like this one a lot!