Buddleja davidii 'SUMMER BIRD Blue' butterfly bush, buddleja
Buddleja
Buddleja is better known as butterfly bush. The reason is obvious – from early summer when it starts blooming until early autumn it produces large, scented flowers that attract winged insects, mostly butterflies. Old varieties are commonly large shrubs, however, there are many modern plants that are bred for smaller and compact growth. SUMMER BIRD is a series first introduced in 2017 which offers truly dwarf and compact varieties.SUMMER BIRD Blue is a small butterfly bush producing possibly the largest flowers of all SUMMER BIRD series. The purple blue panicles are about 12-14 cm long and quite fat - some 5-6 cm wide, and appear from mid July until autumn if you regularly deadhead spent flowers. Individual flowers are tubular, sweetly fragrant, and have an orange throat. Deciduous leaves are rather small, narrowly elliptic, serrated at margins, and medium to light green with blue green hues.
Butterfly bush requires little care. Still, we strongly recommend hard pruning every spring to low permanent framework when buds begin to swell. Plant it in full sun, in well-drained humus-rich soil. It will die in boggy soil after winter. Though hardy to -29°C (USDA zone 5) it performs better in warmer zones. We suggest buying older plants with woody framework for planting in colder areas.
Last update 07-10-2019
