Buddleja - planting and care for this butterfly magnet

Updated on 22 September 2026Published on 15 February 2019

Long panicles in white, red, pink and purple open through summer, so crowded with butterflies that some, like the large white, lay their eggs on the leaves. Buddleja earns its butterfly-bush name in hedges and shrub beds; give it full sun that stays cool, and it blooms lavishly while shrugging off drought.

Buddleja at a glance
Name	Buddleja
Family	Scrophulariaceae
Type	Shrub
Height	6 to 13 feet (2 to 4 meters)
Exposure	Full sun
Soil	Ordinary, rather rich
Foliage	Deciduous
Flowering	Midsummer to mid-autumn

Planting, care and pruning are practices that will boost blooming and growth for the buddleja.

Planting Buddleja

Preferably in fall or spring if purchased in a container.
For the first few weeks after planting, water often to ensure proper settling in.

Choose a location that is in full sun but stays cool.

Follow our guidance for planting buddleja

Propagation for Buddleja

Seed propagation occurs naturally very easily, but cuttings are true to form — Take softwood cuttings in midsummer to copy the parent shrub

Buddleja readily spreads through seed on its own. It even tends to become invasive!

To ensure you get an exact copy of the mother shrub, prepare a cutting from it in the middle of summer (softwood cutting).

Pruning Buddleja

Buddleja with damaged branches — Cut back hard at winter’s end; regrowth comes back nicer

You’ve got 2 options to prune your buddleja, both cases are at the end of winter:

To remodel your buddleja:
Prune the shoots from the previous year’s growth while ensuring the buddleja has a nice bearing.
To frankly rejuvenate your buddleja:
Cut back as much as you wish, it will grow back even nicer.

Watering Buddleja

Water buddleja only if you want to maximize the blooming — For maximum bloom, never let the soil dry beyond four days

Watering is most important right after planting. In the following years, you’ll be amazed at how long your buddleja can survive during droughts.

However, if your goal is to ensure maximum blooming, don’t let the soil under the shrub stay dry for more than 3-4 days.

Learn more about Buddleja

Landscaping with buddleja — Works as a hedge, a standalone specimen or in beds

Also called “butterfly bush“, buddleja blooms in summer for the greatest joy of butterflies!

Forming cute panicles with colors ranging from white and red to pink and purple, this shrub is perfect to plant as a hedge. It also stands out great as a standalone or in a shrub bed.

Not only are the flowers a boon for butterflies: some, like the “large white” butterfly, also lay their eggs on its leaves!

Smart tip about Buddleja

Cut short from November onwards. This will give your shrub even more vigor!

Read also on the topic of shrubs:

Frequently Asked Questions

When and how should I prune a buddleja?

Pruning is done at the end of winter, and you have two choices. To simply reshape the shrub, shorten the shoots produced the previous year while keeping a balanced silhouette. To rejuvenate an old or straggly plant, cut back as hard as you like — it will come back even better.

Is buddleja invasive, and how do I propagate it properly?

Buddleja sows itself very freely and does tend to become invasive, so seedlings will appear around the garden on their own. Seedlings are also unpredictable, since they do not reproduce the parent plant. For an exact copy of your shrub, take a softwood cutting in the middle of summer instead.

How much watering does a buddleja need?

Watering really matters only in the first weeks after planting, to help the shrub settle in. Once established, buddleja will astonish you with how long it holds out through drought. If you want the heaviest possible flowering, though, don’t let the soil under the shrub stay dry for more than three or four days.

Why is buddleja called the butterfly bush?

It flowers in summer and its panicles are a magnet for butterflies, which is where the common name comes from. The flowers are not the only attraction: some species, such as the large white, lay their eggs on the leaves. Planted in full sun, it turns a hedge or a shrub bed into a butterfly haven.

Image credits (edits Gaspard Lorthiois):
Pixabay: Christophe Ducourret-Gravereau, Davie Bicker, Carola Engels, Gwen M
CC BY 2.0: Martin Pettitt

Written by Gaspard Lorthiois | Loves helping out, especially when it comes to growing things. Worked in herbal medicine, runs a farm, and dabbles in tech. Master's degree and engineer.

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