Buddleia

Loganiaceae

Another favorite is the buddleia, or butterfly bush. Lush, lovely flowers, heavenly scent and as its nickname implies, it attracts butterflies galore. My reigning buddleia produces abundant heavy heads of lilac-looking purple flowers. The plant has arching, willowlike branches sparsely covered with leaves. Most of the plant's oooomph goes into making those lovely clumps of color.

I am going to order another buddleia from Park Seed, “Honeycomb”. This one has lovely buttery blossoms and an even stronger fragrance. I did have one earlier in my gardening career and the florets on that one were twice the size of my purple plant. And, the scent was even more heady. I kept cutting branches of flowers to have in the kitchen so I could enjoy the color, the shape, the design, the scent, well, just about everything about these wonderful additions to any garden.

Buddleias prefer full sun, but can stand a bit of shade. This is another shrub that needs a hard pruning in the early spring. I cut mine back to about 10 inches. When grown in Florida this shrub can reach heights up to 12 ft. during its growing season.