Wildlife garden
Replacing a butterfly bush: native plants for butterflies and caterpillars
A butterfly bush is best replaced with native plants that give nectar and also feed caterpillars, such as alder buckthorn, wild privet, hemp agrimony, common valerian, field scabious and wild marjoram; if you keep it, cut off every faded flower spike before it sets seed.
What to do
- In place of the butterfly bush, plant a native shrub with flowers and leaves for caterpillars: alder buckthorn for the brimstone, wild privet for the privet hawk-moth or honeysuckle for the white admiral.
- Add perennials that, like the butterfly bush, give plenty of nectar from July to September: hemp agrimony, common valerian, field scabious, devil’s-bit scabious, brown knapweed, wild marjoram and purple loosestrife.
- Leave some nettles in a sunny corner: peacock, small tortoiseshell and red admiral lay their eggs on them.
- Remove the butterfly bush in autumn: saw it down and dig out the stump with the largest roots, or it will regrow. Pull up any seedlings nearby while they are small.
- If you keep it, cut off every faded flower spike from July into autumn, before the seeds ripen, and prune it hard in March.
- Give your new plants a few seasons: in the first year there will be fewer butterflies, but with more flowers and caterpillars every year your garden will become richer than with a single butterfly bush.
Why it helps
- Butterflies need not only nectar but also food plants for their caterpillars. Here, hardly any caterpillars live on the butterfly bush from China: it feeds the butterfly, but not the next generation.
- Each shrub produces thousands of tiny seeds that the wind carries far away. The butterfly bush spreads massively along railway lines, on waste ground and in towns, where it crowds out native plants.
Which plants?
- Alder buckthorn Frangula alnus Shrub · flowers May–August NativePoisonous
- Wild privet Ligustrum vulgare Shrub · flowers June–July NativePoisonous
- Common honeysuckle Lonicera periclymenum Climber · flowers June–September NativePoisonous
- Common nettle Urtica dioica herbaceous plant Native
- Hemp agrimony Eupatorium cannabinum perennial · flowers July–September NativePoisonous
- Valerian Valeriana officinalis herb · flowers June–August Native
- Field scabious Knautia arvensis perennial · flowers June–September Native
- Devil's-bit scabious Succisa pratensis perennial · flowers August–October Native
- Brown knapweed Centaurea jacea perennial · flowers June–September Native
- Wild marjoram Origanum vulgare herbaceous plant Native
- Purple loosestrife Lythrum salicaria perennial · flowers June–September Native
When?
March and July–November.
Garden jobs in MarchGarden jobs in JulyGarden jobs in AugustGarden jobs in SeptemberGarden jobs in OctoberGarden jobs in November
Take up the challenge
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Plant 3 native shrubs (October–December)
Plant 3 native trees or shrubs, such as hawthorn, hazel or guelder rose: planting season has begun.
Did you know? The butterfly bush is called Buddleja davidii in Latin, after the French missionary and naturalist Armand David, who collected it in China.