Nothing like a good butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii) to liven up a yard. It’s like a damn land aquarium. The first time I planted one of these was in Connecticut, it grew six feet tall but completely died back in the winter. Every year it returned though, along with butterflies and hummingbirds that picked at the flowers like packs of crazed buffoons flailing about in the heat of summer and beyond.

Butterfly Bush shrouded in mystique.

In southern Virginia, the butterfly bushes don’t die back, they stay year round and their trunks and roots get so huge they resemble gnarled trees. Up in CT, I thought it was cool to get four or five hummingbirds, down here I can have up to eighteen at a time. If you want to attract hummingbirds I would advise to try two things: a) plant a butterfly bush or two and then b) plant some scarlet bee balm. The hummingbirds do hit the scarlet bee balm, but they really nail the butterfly bushes. After you’ve attracted them with these plants then you can set up feeders with one part sugar to four parts water nectar. The bright red bee balm attracts by sight, but the butterfly bush–I’m convinced it gives off an irresistible stench they can perceive from miles away. Once it blooms you should have all manner of flying beasts tripping out on it.

Any nasty wasps or bees that purge the nectar do so with such gusto they don’t give a rip about anyone walking nearby. Same goes for the butterflies, so a word of caution if you have little children about–they could possibly just pick up the butterflies by their wings and bend them into origami–same goes for some drunken goobers or general hooligans I would guess. It’s a good way to take photos of butterflies since they are so hell bent on taking nectar from these particular flowers.

White, red, “black” (more like dark purple), purple and yellow make up the most common butterfly bush colors, I have a neat variety growing called a “Himalayan” butterfly bush. It has this sort of orange/purple thing going on.

Himilayan Blossoms

Besides butterflies, hummingbirds, bees and beneficial wasps these plants attract “Hummingbird Moths.” When I first saw one of these from afar, I really thought for a moment that it could be a “baby hummingbird.” The butterfly bush had been attracting hummingbirds for a couple years now, so this little “baby” came by and I was like “whoa, what the hell is that?”

The Elusive Hummingbird Moth

Turns out it’s a moth that mimics a hummingbird so predators won’t recognize it. I’ve seen reddish yellow ones, and this black and yellow variety. I’ve never seen these insects until I planted the butterfly bushes both here and back in CT. I do solemnly swear butterfly bushes are the crack of the butterfly, hummingbird and general flying insect world.