Kitchen Garden Forum

Have a Buddleia in full bloom, have seen one butterfly, and that was a cabbage white.

Ah! Shallot Man, I am still laughing...I am about to leave work with a smile on my face... (I'm sorry, but it is funny and I am laughing with you...)

Our next door neighbour has several of these bushes which are never cut back. I swear it's a myth that they encourage lots of varieties of butterflies because this year her bushes are bigger than ever and we've had more cabbage whites in our garden than ever! Have never seen any other variety of butterfly on them. Perhaps they're like shunks and leave and nasty smell behind them to discourage others!

Actually, this does indicate that butterflies really are getting scarce, not just in species but the numbers within the species. The butterflies I remember from my childhood I rarely see now, and when I do see something other than the cabbage white, it makes me down tools and enjoy the moment.

Butterflies at this time of the year are "between shifts". Overwintered adults, like the scores of Painted Ladies which migrated here over a month ago, have now bred and, having done so, died. Their larvae live on, and they will start hatching in about another month to give us the diversity of butterflies we usually see in August and September. Until then, there'll be the odd cabbage white, which have a more remontant lifestyle than other species. We can make pronouncements about declining butterfly populations based on what we see at the moment, but that there are so few right now don't signify.

Actually, many of the butterflies which mainly feed on buddleias, particularly red admiral, peacock, small tortoiseshell, comma, painted lady, are only just emerging again. The first generation flew in March/April/May and their offspring will be coming out in the next few weeks, so patience!

Having said that, last year's wet summer has certainly meant fewer butterflies this year, but numbers will probably recover if we get some continuous decent weather .

What an education it is on this site.

We have several buddleais on our plot at the end of beds - I call it buddleia walk. A while ago I took cuttings from a couple of buddleias and all grew so I popped one of each in the garden and the rest on the plot. Once they are fully in flower the smell as I pass is pure honey. They attract all sorts of butterflies and absolutely hundreds of bees. The flowers are just opening at the moment and the scent isn't very strong just yet but on the lavender bed in another part of the plot yesterday there were lots of butterflies and bumble bees browsing the flowers. No doubt the strong lavender smell was more attractive to them. A few were large and small whites but others were a comma and several small tortoiseshell. We usually have lots of peacocks and occasionally red admirals.
Our buddleias are all purple varieties - any idea if the white ones attract as many insects?

By the way buddleia is one awkward word to type - the a keeps jumping in front of the i!

We have found that the best butterfly-attracting buddleias are the pale lilac ones, the deep purple ones aren't nearly as good and, in my experience, neither are the white ones, but I know books often list white buddleias as particularly good for insects. So it may depend on the variety as well as just the colour.

Whether it simply shows more but I don't think the white flowers last anywhere near as long. Are we talking about unpruned bushes or just a better climate, all mine are a long way from flowering yet.

Mine are pruned every year and are all darkish purple. Reddish purple (variety unknown as I took the cutting off another plot holders heap of rubbish when he cut it down his bushes down and a Black Prince variety but they both seem to draw in the butterflies and bees. The smell is intoxicating.

I have another in the garden that I trained as a small tree. I forgot to prune it this year and I don't think that is flowering yet but is in a totally different location.

Mine are almost fully out here in the balmy south - I have quite a few varieties. Completely agree about the butterflies - in August, they will be covered with butterflies, and if you touch the bush lightly with your hand, there will be a cloud of them up and about, to settle down again a few seconds later. A true seasonal delight. One of my nettle patches is covered with Small tortoiseshell caterpillars at the moment.

When I walked the dog in the long grass fields across the road yesterday there were hundreds of small brown butterflies. I'm not good on butterfly identification, but it was lovely to see so many.

We have lots of small brown butterflies too with dark spots - I think they are meadow browns but am willing to be put right by someone more expert at butterfly identification than me.

glallotments wrote:We have lots of small brown butterflies too with dark spots - I think they are meadow browns but am willing to be put right by someone more expert at butterfly identification than me.

Small ones are usually Gatekeepers. The Meadow Brown is larger and darker.