Butterfly Bush
Location: near the Pioneer statue, Blake Hall
Approximate blooming period: late Spring - early Summer
Orange-eye butterfly-bush, Buddleia davidii
Origin: China
Habitat: Hardy to USDA Zone 5
Height and Form: Deciduous or semi-evergreen shrub, large, 8-12 ft (2.4-3.7 m) high, or taller
Foliage and Bark: Leaves opposite, simple, ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, 10-25 cm, 2.5-7.5 cm wide, acuminate, cuneate, serrated margin, gray-green to dark green above, tomentose beneath.
Flowers, Fruit and Seeds: Flowers small, fragrant, usually borne in spike-like slender, dense, 10-25 cm long terminal clusters, often lilac, purple, white, or pink colored with orange at the center. Butterflies often visit flowers.
Culture: Full sun, easily grown, almost weed-like. Prune in early spring to control growth and encourage large flowers which are borne on new growth.
Name: Buddleia: after the Rev. Adam Buddle (1660-1715). davidii: after Armand David who discovered the species.
Cultivars/Varieties'Black Knight' -dark purple flowers with an orange center
'Nanho Blue' -compact plant with deep blue flowers on gracefully arching stems
'White Profusion' -smaller plant with pure white flowers with yellow centers
'Harlequin' -rich purple-red flowers against variegated leaves
'Pink Spread' -clear pink flowers, a new Dutch introduction
'Lochinch' -long blooming with soft lavender-blue flowers(Barash, Cathy Wilkinson. Prairie Lands, Gardener's Guide. Nashville, 2003.)
