Buddleja davidii Butterfly Candy Little Purple - Butterfly Bush

Buddleja davidii Butterfly Candy® Little Purple ('Botex001') is a small bush with purple-violet flowers, highly floriferous throughout the summer. With its elegant and balanced silhouette, this variety is well suited to gardens with limited space, and for cultivation in pots on balconies or terraces. From summer to autumn, lightly scented purple-violet flowers appear in panicles, which are very attractive to butterflies and bees. Hardy, easy to grow, and undemanding, this dwarf butterfly bush is a beautiful choice for the garden. Ideal for biodiversity, Little Purple adds to the Butterfly Candy series, which includes five other colours: Ruby, Pink, Lila, Sweetheart, and White.

The genus Buddleja comprises about a hundred species of deciduous or evergreen bushes, native to China, Africa, South Asia, and South America. They are named after Adam Buddle, a famous English botanist of the 17th century. This genus is sometimes spelled 'Buddleia', but the official spelling seems to be 'Buddleja'.

Belonging to the Scrophulariaceae (Buddlejaceae) family, Little Purple is a hybrid recently selected in the Netherlands by Botanic Experience BV and the Dutch breeder Van Son & Koot from Kaatsheuvel. In 2021, it received the prestigious Bronze Award KVBC Summer Challenge 2021 from the Royal Society for Cultivation, Boskoop.

Little Purple is a small plant with a rounded habit, not exceeding 80 cm (32 in) in height. This variety has a highly branched vegetation, with short upright branches, giving it a balanced stature. The deciduous foliage falls in winter and reappears in spring. It consists of lanceolate, opposite leaves, measuring about 8 to 10 cm (3 to 4 in) long and 2 to 3 cm (1 in) wide, slightly hairy, and silver-grey-green in colour. Flowering occurs over 4 to 5 months, from June-July to October, depending on the region. The flowers are composed of small tubular, purple-violet flowers, gathered in long conical panicles at the end of the branches, measuring 10 to 15 cm (4 to 6 in) long. The flowers release a sweet scent reminiscent of honey, which is highly sought after by pollinating insects and butterflies. In the summer, after each wave of flowers, light pruning encourages the buddleja to develop new flowering shoots. This hardy bush resists urban pollution and does not suffer from occasional drought. When grown in pots, it requires regular watering and some fertiliser to support its growth and flowering.

There is a great diversity of varieties in the Buddleja category, with each as unique as the next, but Little Purple stands out for its strking habit and intense flowering with a delicate fragrance. Thanks to its compact habit, this dwarf buddleja is perfect for containers to enhance terraces and balconies in combination with other shrubs for pots. The silver-grey-green foliage of this bush contrasts well with its intense and elegant flowering, making it easy to combine with colourful perennials (Asters, Delphiniums, Echinaceas, Daylilies, Red Hot Pokers, etc.), shrubs for borders, medium-sized grasses, or flowering shrubs (Abelias, Caryopteris, Lavenders, Potentillas, Spireas, etc.). Wherever you choose to plant it, this dwarf buddleja will bring life and colour to your garden from summer to autumn.