Vibrantly colored and low-maintenance with blooms that last from early summer until the first frost—butterfly bushes (Botanical Name: Buddleia) are the perfect perennial shrub to brighten up the summer garden. These new butterfly bush introductions, currently being offered by Reynolds Garden Center, are certain to make even the smallest garden pop with color and entice butterflies and hummingbirds to your property.

Buddleia ‘Pugster Blue’

Short, stocky and cute—'Pugster Blue’, with a mature size of only 2ft x 2ft is ideal for the small garden or patio planting. Its true-blue colored flowering spikes are plump, long-lasting and honey-scented—enticing hummingbirds, butterflies and pollinators to your garden while discouraging deer and rabbits. 

‘Pugster Blue’ is not only drought and heat tolerant once established but is also maintenance-free—requiring little to no deadheading to encourage new flower growth. They make great cut flowers for your summer bouquet and should be on your shortlist of ‘must-haves’ for the garden. Use them as an accent plant and along the garden border or add them as a highlight to your deck-side container groupings.  

Buddleia ‘Prince Charming’

A breakthrough from the traditional purple hues of most butterfly bushes, ‘Prince Charming’ sports distinctive, eye-catching and intense 10-inch raspberry-pink flower spikes from late summer to fall. Maturing to a height of 3.5 to 4 feet, it is considered relatively compact when compared to most buddleia cultivars. The sweet fragrance of these striking flowers is a magnet for butterflies, hummingbirds and pollinators while, at the same time, are resistant to deer injury. They are drought tolerant and make great cut flowers for your summertime flower arrangement. Fast-growing and easy to grow, ‘Prince Charming’ is best used as a specimen plant to create a focal point in the late summer garden. 

Note: As with all butterfly bushes these new cultivars perform best when planted in full sun (at least 6-hours) and well-drained soils with a neutral soil pH. They have average to low watering requirements and do not tolerate wet conditions or soggy soil. Heavy pruning is not necessary but, if a slight trim is preferred, do so in early spring when new growth emerges—they bloom on new woody shots.