butterfly bush - can i plant one this time of year

[evedawn]

i want to plant a butterfly bush. in a container. in a part of the garden that gets lovely morning sunshine but is shady towards the afternoon. also will i need to overwinter it in a polytunnel or similar in winter? is it still okay to plant this late in the summer? i plan to buy a well established one from a nursery. any tips please. thanks

[Robinia]

The more common varieties would probably be ok for a couple of years or so in a very large container but they really need a lot of room. However there are some smaller ones now that grow to about 5 ft which I'm sure would be ok but still need a biggish pot. No need to bring it in during the winter & it would probably be too heavy anyway. If you nip off to the nurseries asap there might be some in flower at the moment.

[LoftyLottie]

Are you talking about Buddlea? Robinia has given good advice. They are very hardy and grow as weeds in many areas so you will have no need to overwinter in shelter. They will almost certainly thrive out in all weathers. Don't prune until March though and then you will get loads of flowers every year.

[seadogg]

To support Lottie, a nearby farmer left his field alone for a few years and there were buddliea all over the place, self sown.

They thrive on neglect though a little pruning is fine.

[evedawn]

thanks all of you :-)

[daffy654]

We prune ours hard back in the autumn every year (we have 4 of them) and they have lots of flowers every year.They grow to around 12 feet tall every summer and around 5 feet across so make sure you have a lot of room for them :)

[carlton23]

Any blue flowers will attract butterflies.

[evedawn]

thank all. from your answers i am t hinking that a butterfly bush will be too big really which is a chame. but thanks to carlton 23 answer i will just have to find some lovely blue / lilac flowers to attract butterflys to my (tiny) garden.

[Robinia]

evedawn if you want something to flower this year go to a good nursery that sells larger pots of perennials & look for sedum spectabile & dwarf michaelmas daisies with buds on...both will be ok in containers & will attract butterflies. They'll die off over the winter but will come back next yr...they'll need splitting & repotting eventually.