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

I had a two-year old bush that grew well and overwintered just fine. I followed the directions that I've seen over and over and pruned it all the way back in March of 2006. The plant did not come back. I'm wondering about the merits of hard pruning this bush.

This very reliable buddleja basically pops up every summer, bursting with flowers from early summer to fall.

It attracts butterflies much better than my 'Black Knight' and the flower cones are much longer and puts out more flowers than the BK.

My plants grows in poor alkaline soil with no ammendments or special care but looks like it's on steriods.

This one beautiful plant and escaped from the garden and is considered a "wildflower" in Western Washington. It blooms attract butterflies and humming birds. It was know as a butterfly bush to me as a kid. It needs to be severly cut back to the ground each year to encourage new growth from which you will get your blooms. It has been culitvated to now come in many different colors. Mature plant will be quite large. It has even managed to grown in the old decaying mortor between old bricks on many old buildings. Some can be seen growing as high as 3 or 4 stories above the street level.

I planted this in early summer 2003, its grown about 1 foot since I planted it in full sun. Very sandy soil here, added compose to the soil when I planted it. Im still getting many blooms in mid October. I only trim branches from the base so I dont keep running it over with the lawnmower and put up stakes to train the larger branches to grow up instead of out, It seemed to get even more flowers after I did that. The flowers smells wonderful.

Grow best in rich, well-drained soil. If soil is too clay-based, consider adding some sand or compost to create better environment. We have nine in both the light purple and also in yellow (accidentally; we only ordered purple, but we find the yellow to be attractive as well). Do not prune back to the base as is often suggested; we prune selectively and new blooms and leaves appear from old growth. Ours bloom in full shade. The most important aspect seems to be the rich, well-drained soil.

I have a 4 yr old specimen that hasnt grown over 4 ft tall. its very sparce and all could be attributed to the soil that I have around my house that is hard to get rid of due to severe tree root infestation( the neighbors) and clay soil. the best I could do was add to the soil after I worked it abit. now I'm wondering if this plant will grow in a raised bed. so will attempt to move it in early spring as if I were planting it for the first time would be my only drawback, other than the plant dying completely. so will post again when this is done for the results.