PlantSowGrow
How to plant and care for Butterfly Bush (Buddleja)
Buddleja davidii 'Black Knight'
🌸 Flower
🔁 Perennial
Long cones of honey-scented dark-purple flowers from July to September, covered in butterflies. Fast and easy.
When to plant and care for it
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Flowers
Prune
Timed for a typical UK garden (last frost mid-April). The app uses your own town's frost dates.
Growing Butterfly Bush (Buddleja): what it needs
- Light
- Full sun · 6+ hours a day
- Watering
- Water well until established, then in dry spells
- Soil
- Any well-drained soil
- Spacing
- 2 m
- Height
- 2.5–3 m
- In pots
- Grows well in containers
- Feeding
- No feeding needed
- Hardiness
- USDA zones 5–9
Step by step
- On planting day
Plant
Plant at the same depth as it was in its pot, 2 m apart, and firm in.
- 0–1 days after “Plant”
Water In Well
Give a full can of water, then keep moist for the first few weeks while roots establish.
- 7–14 days after “Water In Well”
Mulch Around the Base
Spread 5 cm of compost or bark around the plant, keeping it off the stems.
Every year
- MarchCut Back Hard
Cut all stems back to 30–60 cm from the ground — it flowers on new growth.
- AugustIn Flower
Count the butterflies — take a photo.
- AugustDeadhead
Snip off faded flower cones to get more flowers and stop self-seeding.
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