Butterfly Bushes are known for their ability to grow in thin, marginal soil and disrupted ecosystems, earning them the nickname “the bomb site plant” in post-WWII England. They prefer environments like riverbeds and floodplains with well-drained soil that dries out quickly. To ensure optimal growth, water a butterfly bush in the morning, keeping the roots cool and moistened during the hottest part of the day. Deeply water the planting area, including the root ball, to stimulate early root formation and stronger root development. Mulch beds but give your butterfly bush a bit of clearance, never mulching all the way up to the main stems. Prune in spring after the watering.
Care for a butterfly bush is easy: water slowly and deeply during prolonged dry spells so that the soil absorbs the water deep into the root zone. The plants don’t need to overwater, which can cause root rot. Grow buddleia in moist but well-drained soil in full sun, deadhead flowers to encourage more to form, and cut back hard in late spring to prevent the shrub from becoming too big.
Summer lilacs are perfect for beginners or forgetful gardeners because they do not require too much water to stay in shape. Although they love medium-moistured soil, they do not require too much water to stay in shape. When first planted, water at least once a week and apply the water slowly and deeply. They prefer a moist but well-drained soil of average fertility.
Watering should be done when the soil seems dry, but not overwater. If you have clay soil, watch watering carefully. If you have an irrigation system, ensure it’s not inundating. Give your butterfly bush a deep, life-giving soak at least weekly when the mercury climbs, using room temperature water.
📹 Butterfly Bush Care Tips // Garden Answer
ABOUT ME: Hi my name is Laura and I, along with my husband, make gardening videos. I live in Eastern Oregon and garden in a …
📹 Planting a Huge Load of Butterfly Bushes! 🦋🌿🦋 // Garden Answer
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I find that I look forward to your website whenever you post a new article. Love how you educate us on all the different kinds of plantings. Plus, it is a treasure of a bonus when you share your beautiful children with us in your articles. I can honestly say from my heart that I don’t normally get excited on YouTube websites but your website is one that keeps you interested til the end and I love your website. Oh, I have now been following you guys for almost 2 years and feel like I have to watch you guys as often as you post your articles. I wish you all nothing but the best in life and may God bless you all for doing all that you do and to include us all in your journey. Thank you so much
Laura, you are planting so many pollinator friendly plants in your gardens! Have you thought about putting some low shallow bowls out for water with some pebbles for the bees and butterflies? Is there a way you could tap into your water source to keep them filled with fresh water? Just a thought! Love following your dream.
I just LOVE butterfly bushes! They are one of the few plants that thrive in my extremely sandy soil with next to no amendments. I typically have to add a LOT of amendments so my soil will hold water for longer than .004 seconds lol….but butterfly bushes are one that I can plant it and forget it. I water them in for a week then never touch them again. So soooo easy and gorgeous!
Love all of these! ❤️ Laura, thank you so much for all of your articles. I’ve been perusal for a couple of years now and just helped my boyfriend, who is a landscaper, designs couple of beds for a client. We used hydrangeas, echinacea, nepeta, lambs ear, heuchera, and a small blue spruce. I made sure that green, blue, yellow and red were all in there, that textures and heights varied, and every season would have blooms… all of which I’ve learned from you. We’re hoping to do more of this and it wouldn’t be possible without you. Thank you for educating me and so many others and the joy and kindness you provide along the way. ❤️❤️❤️
I’m also a professional gardener, my business is 26 years old this year, and I have designed many gardens and taken care of many plants in mid-coast Maine, with the help of a great crew. Can’t imagine gardening in 100 degree weather…good for you for getting out there and doing what you need to keep your gardens going….Gardening is not for the faint of heart, especially when it gets hot, and if it’s 90 degrees in midcoast Maine, than that’s a very hot day and luckily we don’t get many of those….Aren’t you hotter gardening in black?
Such beautiful bushes! I have never had those but I’m definitely going to add that to my list. And it was so exciting to see the flagstone pathways starting. Looking forward to that article. We did a flagstone walkway and stairs and patio over the last couple years and now I’m starting to plant around it all. I will definitely add butterfly bush to my growing list of plants I want. Thanks for all the fun inspiration. You guys are a blessing!
I have been hoping every day that this would be the day for the walkway! So great to see it started! You have so many things going on that I’m assured that every day you will have an inspiring article to share. I need that inspiration! My flower beds are full of weeds! I have spent the last 2 months caring for my husband, who just had his second of two knee replacement surgeries. But he is well on his way to recovery and what looks to be a great rest of the summer!
I’ve just planted some wildflower seeds and I’m getting ready to plant more soon. I’m very new, this is my first time and I’m so excited. My garden is a container garden as I just don’t have the room to plant in ground but. I’ve just purchased 2 David Austin roses, they’re my babies and I’m taking care of them and can’t wait to see my lil yard full of bees and butterflies next year. My plant obsession is real and I’m looking forward to next year as I continue to add to my collection. I’m new to your website and you have taught me so much already and your love for gardening is so lovely to see. Thank you for filming all your projects xx
Even though you don’t have those invasive issues where you are there is not a hard and fast line. A buffer zone is needed, your area is that buffer. It’s a smart appropriate approach to invasive species. Be happy you have good decision makers protecting you against some truly nasty devastating problems. Good job Oregon!
These are so perfect! Already doing their thing – attracting butterflies and bees. I often think, “why can there be desirable plants that grow like weeds? Without any extra care?” Sounds like these fit that description, at least once they get going. Loved seeing a sneak peek at the stone walkway. That’s going to be magnificent!!!💚💚💚
Gorgeous!!!! You’ll keep them pruned back so they don’t get overgrowned. We had to removed two overgrown butterfly bushes the year after we moved it. They weren’t in the right place as it was planted a foot from the front walk, which is covered. I planted lavander grosso there instead and spaced them further from the main walk.
I have four big butterfly bushes in my backyard. I absolutely love them for attracting bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. But my favorite visitors at my butterfly bushes are the hummingbird moths…I just love them! If you catch a quick glimpse of one of them, you might think it’s a hummingbird, till you look again… The hummingbird moths don’t sting or bite and are just fascinating to watch!
Given the number of butterfly bushes you have on the property it may be good to consider planting some native host perennials/shrubs that are used by butterflies local to your area on which they can lay eggs. Without going into it the non native butterfly bush only supports adult butterflies. They can’t lay eggs on that shrub and if there are no host plants right near by the bush kind of tricks the butterflies to hang around your Beautiful garden but then when they go to lay eggs they can’t locate a host plant and they end up not laying eggs before they die. If u know what butterflies that are local to u it’s rewarding to plant a few host plants. Something to consider. Appreciate perusal ur show every morning.
Your excitement is extremely contagious! I love that you do what you do – for us! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – “YOU ARE A ROCK STAR” of gardening and isnspiration. I’m unstopable because of YOU. Except my plot size stopped me cold, that’s ok. I’m loving it, just like you! Thanks Laura, for everything.
Thank goodness, you have the newest plat of land as your property, at the rate you are going you’ll have the south property (is that right?) done by this year!!! It is all so beautiful, and oh my goodness, the pathway is already gorgeous. So love perusal your progress and all that you teach us. Thank you!
I found the mystery jingle sound! You were talking about a reoccurring noise in your most recent recap article. At the end of this one, when Laura is talking to the camera, I can hear it happen just as the tips of her hair brushes across the microphone a few times. Hope this helps! Absolutely love your website!
Loved perusal the planting of Butterfly bushes. I just tore out part of a garden and was thinking if putting in a butterfly bush so I enjoyed hearing about the different types. I feel bad that you do these things in the hottest part of the day. We get up pretty early so we can have everything done by 10:30 a.m. We don’t have young children anymore so we don’t have to get everybodybup, dressed, feed, etc.
I am trying to follow your and your mom’s guide: green, blue, red/purple, yellow groupings in my container roof deck garden. Do pink plants fit in that same red/purple category? I just added a cats pajamas, pink profusion salvia and a gaura to my container garden. Added some rose campion for the blueish leaves. Your articles and info have helped beegin to train my eyes and plant choices. I have learned so much about plants and gardens from you. THANK YOU.
👋Good morning Laura and family 👨👩👧👦 I’ll have to give the butterfly 🦋 Bushes a try in my garden. The gray flagstone l🙂🙂ks great, it makes everything pop and more detailed very nice. Thank you for sharing, have a wonderful rest of the day ☺. We will also be getting a little warmer, suppose to get some rain 🌧 at the end of the week just in time for the 4th, have a good one.
👋🌞Good Wednesday morning, Laura! I hope that you and the family are all having a wonderful week, so far! Ohhhhh, this will be so exciting to watch!!!🤗🤩 I absolutely love your butterfly bushes, you have already planted and seeing more will be AMAZZZZZING! OHHHHH MY STARS, a sneak peek at the blue stone pathway!!!🤩🤩🤩🤗🤗🤗 Laura, your placement of the butterfly bushes are sooo perfect!!! I’m sorry the Diadora (sp?) didn’t bounce back😮; I was sure cheering it on. YAAAAAAAAAS, the pathway IS “looking GORGEOUS”!!!!!!🤩🤩😍😍 Thank you, Laura, for taking us along for the planting!!! You are always kind and generous with your time!😇🥰 Have a Blessed and Beautiful day everyone! Kimberley F in Avondale, AZ (Zone 9b) 🌞🌵💞
Hi Laura & friends: I wanted to let you know a bit of background on why Eastern Oregon probably gets lumped in the non sterile butterfly bush zone. Short answer: birds. If birds eat the seed and fly west, then poop…the seed is planted. Always better to be safe than sorry. I live in Florida and you wouldn’t believe how easy it is for plants to “travel”. However, in Florida a plant only gets termed Invasive when it gets into natural areas AND pushes the native flora out. This is an ecosystem problem not a garden problem. Everyone who cares about creatures, also will care about not using invasive plants. For any friends in Florida, please only buy sterile lantana. If anyone wishes to know more you can check with your State Land Grant University for more information on what is invasive in your area. (Hope this was helpful and not annoying)
My neighbor has a butterfly bush and it hangs over my fence. Last year during my husband’s birthday party in August all our family and friends gushed at “my” beautiful bush (lol). You are so thoughtful with all that you are planting. Such a nice way to start my day seeing your articles. The walkway is looking good . It will look so nice when it’s done. Have a great day.
Butterflies REALLY DO LOVE butterfly bushes. I’ve gotten my best nature photography (primarily focused on butterflies and birds) of butterflies on butterfly bushes, every single kind: all the Swallowtail varieties, Monarchs, Painted Ladies, and lots of others. Those and coneflowers. They LOVE those two plants. So I’m anxious to see how all these grow and all the wonderful pollinators they attract!
Someone should invent a tiny, adjustable camera umbrella (like those umbrella hats for people) to help with battery overheating in the sun. Thanks for another fantastic article, Laura. I just love seeing the south garden coming together and learning about all the different varieties of buddleia. It’s nice to see so many options which can work in so many different gardens.
You blow my mind. Maybe it is the dry air up there. I am in the TN valley where humidity pretty much stays 80% and up. Then there is you, in your black 3/4 sleeves, “the high today is 104”. I would be all “NOPE”. Once we get into the 90s around here, it can become hard to breathe. I am always so fascinated by the differences between climates.
Good morning! What beautiful plants. I love the butterfly bushes especially the smaller ones. I can put those in my landscape because how small the stay. And that flagstone walkway is going to be absolutely beautiful. Looking forward to seeing that complete. Will you be putting bricks along the edges of the drive like you have closer to the house?
We are visiting friends in Boise and starting our way back to California today but FIRST we are making a trip to Andrew’s in the late morning! I am so excited to see in person that which I have watched over the years on YouTube! Though our car is loaded with things for our almost 3 week trip we’ve been on, I told my husband that I planned to bring SOMETHING home from Andrew’s so we MUST make room! We’ve seen some spectacular things, but this will still be a highlight for me! You have enabled me to see beauty in things I otherwise would not have such as some seed heads etc. THANK you for your inspiration, passion for plants and joy you (and your whole family) bring with each article! I’m always excited for the next one. Your flagstone walk is already beautiful. It will be perfect when completed!!!
I love my PW Butterfly Bushes and would love to add more!! My Miss Violet took a beating from a wet, heavy late April snow which is highly unusual for us in SW WA. It had lots of foliage and buds being it was later spring but ended up bending forward and covering the items that I had under planted. It took a very late in the season hard prune like a champ and has pushed out tons of new growth and lots of buds. It’s a garden winner for sure!!
I pulled out a huge, misshaped butterfly bush when we moved into our new (to us) home. We replaced it with a lilac, which I much prefer. There are a couple of other butterfly bushes around the side of the house which don’t get as much sun as they need, but we’ve left them in mainly for a filler, but they don’t get many blooms, I’m guessing because that’s lack of sun. I just adore the pathway! It’s so much wider than I imagined it would be…and absolutely stunning! Well done!
I love butterfly bushes. You got me hooked on them last season and I added a couple to my garden and so happy I did I love them❣️big groupings like you have will be spectacular. The flagstone walkway is looking sooo good can’t wait to see how it works it’s way through that garden space. I would be walking through there many many times a day, love it!
Laura and Aaron..Everything looks so amazing..I have been perusal you prosper and overcome challenges for several years..You both have come so far..and it has been such a BLESSING to learn from you both! What a transformation to your property and personal spaces over the last few months..Just so proud of you both. You can do nothing without Jesus of Nazareth..I know you both live for Jesus. Phillippians 4:13, “I can do *ALL THINGS* through Christ who strengthens me.” Much love from Panama City, Florida!
Good morning, Laura☕️ I love the dwarf version of the butterfly 🦋 bushes. I must say, I planted 3 Pugsters last fall and all 3 died 😭 Perhaps, like you said, don’t plant in the Fall so, I will be on the lookout for the micro ones now. Question 🙋🏼♀️ do you think they would winter over ok if I don’t get them in the ground? Have a Blessed Day 😊🐈
That arborvitae that you lost in your row because it is holding on to water. Aaron mentioned he was going to try drilling holes, but maybe you could also throw some gypsum in those holes to try and improve the soil structure. I know that was on your recap, but I saw the space behind Laura and it reminded me of the issue your having in that spot
The butterfly bushes are so cute I like the fact that deadheading is not necessary 🤷 I have been considering the small, or mid, size for around my front walk to add some cottage whimsey – so the peek of the new walkway with the butterfly bushes near it is just what I’m striving for👍 (the walkway looks spectacular, so far) I wouldn’t expect anything less from you both – I’m always loving your inspiration!👏😊
Laura, your excitement about how your filling your South garden with colour, “structure”(🙃), textures and all those gorgeous perennials. I’m like you, I have to see things to be able to know if they’ll work and look well together. I love how the south garden isn’t fussy, you know sort of like God put all those plants there. The kids are going to love all the butterflies, hummingbirds, moths and all the other pollinators. What fun they will have playing in the grassy meadows you have planed. What incredible memories they’ll have. We will be moving to Northern Idaho in the near future. It’s a blank slate except for some beautiful wild berries. I can’t wait to slowly(or quickly) get our garden area, flowers and orchard up and growing. You’re such and inspiration and an amazing educator….Now, if only I could get Aaron to come consult on our irrigation systems. Just playing, you have given us SO much educational information about what kind of irrigation to do where. Before perusal you put irrigation in pots I always hand watered. You both impart such great practical and usable information, thank you so much. Can’t wait to see your babies get bigger and seeing what part of gardening they’ll gravitate to. For now, I know the new fountain is going to be one of the best parts of the day💦💧💦
I just Googled the humidity today in Eastern OR its 19% (and the high is 90°) 😳 here in the lower Florida Keys its 76% (89° high)🤐 i can’t even imagine what 17% humidity feels like! Even w A/C, our house humidity its like 60%😂 all im saying is the weather they have would be beautiful 😍 Awesome article! Gorgeous 🦋 bushes! I have one but its almost blue! 🥰
What a temperature range in your area, and still you find such beautiful plants! I’m with you on the “dry heat.” Humidity levels make a world of difference here in Phoenix Arizona 9B 🥵 Your gardens are filling in beautifully and seem to be doing well in the sudden heat. Can’t wait to see how it all progresses!! Thank you for letting us live vicariously through you – now that the monsoon season is here I’ll be hermitting and looking forward to fall 🍂, so it’s such a treat seeing your gardens. 💚💚
Thank you, I really enjoy perusal you being so passionate in gardening. It inspires me to try new plants as a newbie gardener. I am in 8 a in west Texas… definitely dessert with high temps. How often do you water butterfly bushes and limelight hydrangeas. Thanks again to you and Aaron and your precious babies!
love love LOVE that stone walkway… it’s going to be such a wonderful walkway through this ever-developing gorgeous space!! i had no idea there were so many varieties of butterfly bushes! trying to figure out if i have room for one somewhere but alas, i’m pretty much landlocked in my small space except for small fill ins, lol… LOVED that swallowtail… i’ve been trying to attract them to my gardens this year – i have tons of monarchs and skippers, and etc but i miss those gorgeous big butterflies… loving your garden spaces so much!! 🙂 ❤ thanks for the article! 🙂 ❤
Hello from Eastern Michigan. I planted two blue pugster bushes last summer. They performed amazing the whole summer right into fall. However they died all the way back to the ground this winter, is this normal or just a first winter situation? I am also glad you clarified they are late to wake up because I almost pulled mine out this spring thinking they were dead. They’re coming back nicely now and I can’t wait for their blooms to start.
Video request – Can you consider doing a article on laying out a full-sun mostly perennial flower bed that is visible on all 4 sides but too small to include trees? Struggling a bit with planning out placement, color combos, evergreen interest, and where to leave spaces open for annuals. Love your website!
What a perfect moment when the swallowtail landed on your newly planted ruby bb! I purchased Lo and Behold Ice Chip last year — so small and cute with beautiful white blooms!! I want to buy several more for a drift but it seems like Proven Winners discontinued it??!? 😭 If I can’t find it before end of July I may have to propagate it…I’d rather buy them to support the growers though!! 🥰
Do you also like orange flowers? You don’t have much. I like very much orange day lilys and Helenium e.g. ‘waltraud’ or ‘Sahins early flower’ or ‘luc’. And for dry spots is escholzia californica good. It blooms the whole summer (it exists also in other colours). And do you know if a orange variety of hardy hibiscus exists? I guss not. But it would be great, would be most similar looking to a tropical hibiscus. Hopefully some growers will find a orange variety. And I can really recommend catanache caerulea for dry areas. It’s not orange, but super beautiful.
Thank you for this SO MUCH!!!! I transplanted a couple butterfly bushes last fall (clearance sale!) and was worried how/when to go about pruning. I’ve gone out with my pruners a couple times, but was too hesitant to actually do anything! Lol! 😂 I think have the courage and confidence now to go about it! Thanks again!!!
I love my butterfly bush- here in zone 5 I actually cut mine down to the ground every spring (usually April) and they just come back every summer and blooms prolifically. Love these plants! I’m curious about the walkway, you don’t need to set it into gravel to level it out? Any stones I place in bare soil tend to sink over time…
Hi Laura, I just wanted to say, that you do not have to excuse yourself, for going a bit off topic in the articles 🙂 It is really fun to follow all the projects around the gardens, and I think, for most of us, we are almost as enthusiastic about it all, as you are 😁 I, for one, have been perusal each and every vlog, for years, as your garden has changed and grown – and also your family 😁 My gardening has been minimized, because of two major back surgeries, but i do what I can. I’ve had to dial it down in the garden. But on my shady terrace….. 😁 I’ve taken great inspiration from the way, you do containers and flowerboxes, and so now, I do them with much more variety, and lots more plants! 😂 I have a real soft spot for Hostas, which i plant in containers. Alot of different hostas…. My little shady terrace is almost 1/3 hostas in containers now – and I love it! Above them, I have 6 flowerboxes on my fence, with lots of colourful annuals – million bells, lobelias, etc. And up on my wall, i have wallplanters with silver falls and more lobelias. And the latest addition, is a scented pink/white wisteria, draped on the fence… I can’t wait to see it grow all the way around 😂
The stone path looks lovely but are you sure that mulch will be enough to fill in the cracks? Here in New England we would have to dig a trench and fill it with stone dust to properly set the stones and to try to prevent frost heaving but, even if you don’t need to do that much work in the NW, wouldn’t it be easier to walk on them if you somehow packed the cracks with stone dust as well as bolstering the edges of the path with some stone dust sloped up to the sides? I would be concerned that the mulch would be too soft in some of the bigger cracks and could be an ankle twister? Everything looks great either way, as always!
This is one plant I struggle with, twice now I’ve killed the Lo &Behold Ruby Chip. I get them in the ground and they die. They are in a spot that’s dry in the summer but winter and spring is wet, I’m in Wisconsin every where is wet that time of year. I did everything you said, bump it up, little bio-tone, irrigation lines are moved away from them, they get partial sun to full sun. I’m going to keep on trying, I’m going to put in terracotta and drag into my house to over winter. I’m wondering, since they like it so dry, if mixing some sand or a cactus soil would be beneficial in the pots? I really like the small Lo & Behold Ruby Chip, the size is perfect and the color is my favorite. I just wish I didn’t have the black thumb of death on these.
Its a large and very beautiful area! I have a similar area (zone 6 Utah high desert) that I need to plant, but it has to be things that require very little maintenance. I have no help and I can’t bend over much. Are there plants you would recommend? Thank you for all you do–I’ve been perusal you for several years–you’re my daily cup of coffee!
The butterfly bushes look fantastic! Are there low-profile flowers that attract butterflies? I guess nothing taller than 1′ to 1 1/2′. I want to create a small planting on my fire escape. I think it will be a beautiful show for my nephew, neighbors, and people who pass through the neighborhood to see all the butterflies and flowers. 🦋🌺
@Laura. I have heard you say in the past that you have the best neighbors surrounding your property and I wonder if they ever ask to come tour your property? I think if I lived by you my ideal evening would include a walk around your property. Love your show and the babies (the human and the feline ones! 🤣) God Bless you and yours.