Pugster Butterfly Bush Guide: Planting, Growing, and Care (Buddleia)

Everything you need to know to ensure your plants thrive! Looking for a low-maintenance, pollinator-friendly shrub to add to your garden? Pugster Butterfly Bush (Buddleia) is the perfect choice! Hardy in Zones 5-9, this adorable dwarf variety blooms continuously from late Spring to frost, attracting butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds. Please use the Chapter sections below to jump to any specific section in this video. (Zone 7, southern New Jersey)

Chapters:

0:00 - What is a Pugster Butterfly Bush? (Plus shows 5 colors)
0:59 - What makes Pugster such a great dwarf shrub? Thicker stems for a hardier shrub that makes it through Winter.
1:44 - Planting tips for success!
3:29 - Timeline of how my own Pugsters have grown in one Summer
4:01 - All about the flowers on Pugster Butterfly Bushes
4:56 - Mature Size
5:49 - Sun, Water, Heat and Humidity plus Pollinators
6:38 - No deadheading is needed!
7:08 - But if you want to deadhead, here’s how easy it is!
7:31 - When to prune Pugster Butterfly Bush
8:00 - Pugster Amethyst in my pollinator garden

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📸 Pugster Butterfly Bush photos courtesy of Spring Meadow Nursery Thank you!

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#butterflybush #buddleia #gardensanity

[PeggyMills]

I have white, purple, and pink. Love them all. Enjoy your videos. I could listen to you all day!

[SnappyR]

Laura I just love your channel - you are soft spoken, detailed & informative about the plants you're presenting, and your garden tours have soft music while we are strolling through with you ~

[SaraWhiteChi]

Added to my fast-growing spring to-do list: Keep an eye out for Laura's spring pruning video! Planted five Pugster Whites a little high in the spring and hoping they make it through my 5b/6a winter. 🤞 The blooms are so fun and unexpected on a short shrub! 🤍

[quakerorts]

We have the blue, pinker and amethyst. The blue has grown to 4 ft wide by 3 ft tall. And we've seen varieties of butterflies we've never seen before.

[judyluce]

My pugsters are workhorses...planted 3 last fall clearanced at HD for $7!!! Mine are round but least 3x3 but love them.

[suzetteccc]

Thanks for sharing. I put Pugster Pinker in front of my Incrediballs this year..so far so good. Have fun!

[Hongaars]

Thank you for this reminder of a beautiful flower. I do live on coastal Croatia so I need to b very careful what I plant due to seaspray damage during storms.

[LisaBeaver-re]

Planted two this year, one purple and one white. Hope to add a pink next year.

[richbishop]

I'm in zone 5b Canada and have tried growing buddleia three times only to have it die three times. I haven't tried growing the Pugsters though. I guess I will have to try a Pugster. Bonny

[maryk]

😢 My pugster were great last year. This year in late spring I moved both of them . No big move. Same bed just 5 feet over. Grrr. They almost died. Lost a lot of leaves and flowers are very tiny. Some insect or disease attacked my Miss Molly so it looked sick all summer. Hoping they make a big comeback next year. Yours look great!

[willaerley]

Nice! Mine is getting too tall to deadhead. I’ve pretty much given up on the garden this year. I needed a new roof and so many plants got crushed.

[FatamaBegum-fj]

Hi, thanks for the information. It is really helpful. Do you is pugester is invasive?

[jennoq]

I have a question for everybody with these plants. I ordered some to plant that haven't arrived yet. I was excited about them. I've since then read an article about buddleia plants. Apparently they not only attract butterflies but other insects including mosquitos. I'm in Florida and that's the last thing I want. Has anybody noticed this? Also it said they are very invasive. The flowers drop thousands of seeds that will spread aggressively. anybody had these for years and notice that? The article also said they tend to be good for butterflies for nectar but not for laying eggs or for caterpillar food, and they can confuse the native butterflies looking for their native plants to reproduce on. I'm not so sure I want to plant them now and might find something more native to my area. Just wondering if anybody has anything to say about them other than they have lovely flowers. Any negatives? Thanks~